UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Price

Key Points

• UBS Group raised its price target on Williams Companies from $89 to $91 and kept a buy rating, implying about 21.7% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment on WMB remains broadly positive, with several firms recently lifting targets or ratings; MarketBeat says the stock now has an average buy rating and an average price target of $80.47.
• Williams Companies reported Q1 EPS of $0.73, beating estimates, though revenue came in below expectations. The stock traded at $74.77 after the update, near its 52-week high of $77.41.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by analysts at UBS Group from $89.00 to $91.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the pipeline company's stock. UBS Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 21.70% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $80.47.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $0.59 on Tuesday, hitting $74.77. The company had a trading volume of 5,927,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,961,782. The company has a market cap of $91.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.79, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $73.16 and a 200 day moving average of $66.30. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $77.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm's revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. The trade was a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 103,369 shares of company stock valued at $7,700,932. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Williams Companies by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $35,734,000 after acquiring an additional 11,926 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 160.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $10,366,000 after buying an additional 101,574 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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