Brokerages Set Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Price Target at $85.33

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 company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $85.60.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 268,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,064.33. This trade represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.1% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $35,734,000 after buying an additional 11,926 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,366,000 after buying an additional 101,574 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.7%

Williams Companies stock opened at $71.02 on Tuesday. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $56.08 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market cap of $86.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.20.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.45 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 $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.67%.

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.