Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $62.8571.

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A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, CIBC raised shares of Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th.

Get Our Latest Analysis on WMB

Insider Activity

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In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.68, for a total transaction of $119,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 313,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,718,333.60. This trade represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 77,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $507,875. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 294.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 339,399 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $18,368,000 after acquiring an additional 253,336 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 112.8% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,298 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,423,000 after acquiring an additional 13,941 shares during the last quarter. Bearing Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $206,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 419,163 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $22,685,000 after buying an additional 7,587 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2%

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Williams Companies stock opened at $57.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.58 billion, a PE ratio of 29.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.65. The company's 50-day moving average is $58.53 and its 200-day moving average is $58.40. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $43.98 and a fifty-two week high of $63.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.

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