Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Price

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.07% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of WMB traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $78.36. The stock had a trading volume of 2,260,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,933,864. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $73.39 and a 200 day moving average of $67.09. The company has a market cap of $95.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. This trade represents a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $547,807.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 117,869 shares of company stock valued at $8,814,067. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.1% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $287,644,000 after acquiring an additional 134,777 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 9.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 184,123 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,664,000 after acquiring an additional 16,027 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,627,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 75.9% in the 3rd quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 125,290 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,937,000 after buying an additional 54,057 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,344.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 17,465 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 16,958 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.