Wall Street Zen Downgrades Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) to Sell

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Three research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.0%

WMB stock opened at $73.57 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 fifty-two week low of $51.58 and a fifty-two week high of $76.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.18. The stock has a market cap of $89.87 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $757,115.37. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. The trade was a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 51,369 shares of company stock worth $3,769,012 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 13.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 65,233 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,097,000 after purchasing an additional 7,635 shares during the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 10.6% during the second quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,438 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.3% during the second quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 28,854 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,812,000 after buying an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is 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.