Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

WMB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, December 29th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.86.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $74.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.44. The stock has a market cap of $90.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,699.30. This represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.24, for a total transaction of $150,480.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 291,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,906,803.16. The trade was a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 43,107 shares of company stock valued at $3,133,015 in the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.