Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Rated “Buy” in New Coverage at Melius Research

Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $84.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Williams Companies from $86.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.94.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $70.55 on Tuesday. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $56.19 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.5250 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.56, for a total transaction of $151,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 264,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,967,410.04. This trade represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,414,050. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at $3,320,606,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $747,749,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Williams Companies by 43.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,097,208 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,460,446,000 after buying an additional 10,013,946 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $596,077,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $500,305,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

Williams Companies, Inc is an energy infrastructure company focused primarily on gathering, processing, transporting and storing natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company provides the infrastructure and related services that connect natural gas supplies with utilities, power generators, industrial customers, liquefied natural gas facilities and other markets.

Williams operates a large network of interstate and regional natural gas pipelines, gathering systems, processing facilities and storage assets across the United States.