Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $82.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WMB. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.33.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $73.12 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $51.89 and a twelve month high of $76.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.90. The firm has a market cap of $89.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.75, for a total value of $143,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 289,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,747,158.25. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 53,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,912,512 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A increased its position in Williams Companies by 60.2% in the fourth 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 period. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, WHI TRUST Co LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.