Wall Street Zen Upgrades Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) to Hold

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

WMB has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.56.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $73.34 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $89.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.40. Williams Companies has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 23.39% and a return on equity of 18.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total value of $917,760.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total transaction of $148,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,999,071.44. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,182,655. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Tema ETFs LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 127.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 219,413 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $16,311,000 after acquiring an additional 123,156 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $595,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 332.9% during the 2nd quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,069 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 10,050 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $753,000 after acquiring an additional 1,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 68.2% during the second quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 23,443 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 9,502 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.