Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives $75.36 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $75.8571.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,968,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,107 shares of company stock worth $2,982,535. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $747,749,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 190.3% during the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased 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 purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4,992.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,631,986 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $76.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $65.70 and a 200-day moving average of $61.97. The firm has a market cap of $93.12 billion, a PE ratio of 35.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.32%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.46%.

About Williams Companies

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.