Stifel Nicolaus Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB)

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $85.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.97% from the stock’s current price.

WMB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Williams Companies from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.73.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $75.24 on Thursday. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $56.19 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $92.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $73.36 and a 200 day moving average of $73.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.56, for a total value of $151,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 264,259 shares in the company, valued at $19,967,410.04. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,000 shares of company stock worth $1,414,050. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $79,196,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 82.6% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 422,885 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,437,000 after purchasing an additional 191,305 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 6.8% in the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 9,460 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,306,019 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $245,769,000 after buying an additional 89,010 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.0% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,734 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $798,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Company Profile

Williams Companies, Inc is an energy infrastructure company focused primarily on gathering, processing, transporting and storing natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company provides the infrastructure and related services that connect natural gas supplies with utilities, power generators, industrial customers, liquefied natural gas facilities and other markets.

Williams operates a large network of interstate and regional natural gas pipelines, gathering systems, processing facilities and storage assets across the United States.