Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $103.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $99.00 to $103.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

WMB has been the topic of several other research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.60.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $71.86 on Tuesday. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $56.08 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $73.40 and its 200-day moving average is $73.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.63, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 83.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. This represents a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,262,930 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.