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

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

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WMB. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.62.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.0%

Williams Companies stock opened at $70.38 on Friday. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $55.82 and a 52 week high of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.62.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $3.05 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total value of $141,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 281,159 shares in the company, valued at $19,863,883.35. The trade was a 0.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,500 shares of company stock worth $1,402,755. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 49,479 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $329,094,000. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,562,000. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 68,732 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,110,000 after buying an additional 1,342 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in Williams Companies by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 35,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,639,000 after buying an additional 912 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Williams Companies

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.