Williams Companies’ (WMB) Buy (B-) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

by · The Markets Daily

Weiss Ratings reissued their buy (b-) rating on shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB – Free Report) in a research note published on Tuesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WMB. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.73.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on WMB

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $62.49 on Tuesday. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $51.34 and a 52-week high of $65.55. The company has a market capitalization of $76.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.54.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.50%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 311,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,956,984.90. This represents a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,500 shares of company stock worth $497,715 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 3.6% in the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,585 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,051,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 12.8% in the third quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 175,639 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,127,000 after acquiring an additional 19,984 shares during the last quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 8.7% in the third quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,481 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. New Hampshire Trust increased its stake in Williams Companies by 9.4% in the third quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 24,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,560,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 12.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,411 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Williams Companies

(Get Free Report)

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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