Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives $80.27 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.4667.

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of WMB opened at $77.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.61. Williams Companies has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $77.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $73.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, 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 transaction of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 103,369 shares of company stock worth $7,700,932 over the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.