Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $71.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from $70.00 to $71.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WMB. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.29.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.4%

WMB opened at $60.31 on Friday. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $65.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.65 billion, a PE ratio of 31.09, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 103.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total value of $123,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 297,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,418,035.50. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $755,490,000 after purchasing an additional 7,884,730 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 4,992.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,704,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,631,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $905,583,000 after buying an additional 3,089,390 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.