Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.33.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $73.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $90.39 billion, a PE ratio of 34.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $72.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.84. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $51.89 and a 12-month high of $76.87.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of Williams Companies 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 in the company, valued at $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.2% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 29,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 56.7% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 243,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,269,000 after buying an additional 88,000 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,380,115 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $86,685,000 after buying an additional 167,673 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.