BMO Capital Markets Initiates Coverage on Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB)

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets has initiated coverage on Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB), setting an "outperform" rating and a price target of $66.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.29% from its current price.
• Despite recent coverage, Williams Companies missed analysts' earnings estimates for the last quarter, reporting $0.46 earnings per share against expectations of $0.49.
• Institutional investors hold a significant stake in Williams Companies, with 86.44% of the company's stock owned by these entities as various funds increase their positions.

BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an "outperform" rating and a $66.00 price target on the pipeline company's stock. BMO Capital Markets' price objective points to a potential upside of 9.62% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on WMB. CIBC raised shares of Williams Companies from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $64.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, August 14th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB traded up $0.10 on Friday, reaching $60.21. The stock had a trading volume of 4,790,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,563,730. The business's 50-day moving average price is $58.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.52. The company has a market cap of $73.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $44.56 and a 12-month high of $63.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.23% and a net margin of 21.63%.The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.62, for a total transaction of $115,240.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 311,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,956,984.90. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares in the company, valued at $4,537,973.64. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,500 shares of company stock worth $623,115. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at $71,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 132.1% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 373,220 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $22,898,000 after buying an additional 212,447 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 20.3% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 106,322 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $6,678,000 after buying an additional 17,908 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 73.1% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 339,953 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $21,348,000 after buying an additional 143,506 shares during the period. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 14.0% during the second quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 5,199 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.