Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Upgraded by Tudor Pickering to Strong-Buy Rating

Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on WMB. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.21.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of WMB traded up $0.72 on Monday, hitting $60.93. 628,070 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,476,997. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $65.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total transaction of $242,120.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,319,101.85. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,358,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,156 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after buying an additional 6,668,950 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.6% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,047,025,000 after buying an additional 932,998 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,291,842 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $913,840,000 after acquiring an additional 54,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $923,383,000 after acquiring an additional 158,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.