Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Nineteen brokerages rate WMB a consensus "Moderate Buy" (13 buys, 4 holds, 2 strong buys) with a 1‑year average target of $76.50 and several recent price‑target upgrades from firms like Jefferies, Citi and UBS.
• Earnings & guidance: Latest quarter showed $0.55 EPS (missed estimates by $0.02) and $3.20B revenue (beat), and management set FY2026 guidance of $2.20–$2.38 EPS versus the sell‑side average of ~2.08.
• Dividend and ownership signals: Quarterly dividend was raised to $0.525 (annualized $2.10, ~2.9% yield) but the payout ratio is high at ~98%, while insiders have sold shares recently even as institutional ownership stands at about 86.4%.

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $76.50.

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $72.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $76.87. The stock has a market cap of $88.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.52.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 98.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 31,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.24, for a total value of $150,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 291,159 shares in the company, valued at $21,906,803.16. This trade represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 51,369 shares of company stock worth $3,769,012 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Williams Companies by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,077,942,000 after buying an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Williams Companies by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,768,298,000 after buying an additional 2,100,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,018,017,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

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.

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