<div id="readability-page-1"><p><span>Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report)</span> had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley  from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an &#34;overweight&#34; rating on the pipeline company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential upside of 25.07% from the stock's previous close.</p><div><p><span></span><span>Get <strong>Williams Companies</strong> alerts:</span></p></div><ul><li>MarketBeat Week in Review – 05/04 - 05/08</li></ul><p>Several other equities research analysts have also commented on WMB. Scotiabank upped their price target on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a &#34;sector outperform&#34; rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a &#34;strong sell&#34; rating to a &#34;hold&#34; rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a &#34;buy&#34; rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a &#34;buy&#34; rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo &amp; Company raised their target price on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an &#34;overweight&#34; rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned  a Buy rating and two have assigned  a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company  has a consensus rating of &#34;Buy&#34; and a consensus target price of $81.00.</p><p><b>Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on WMB</b></p><h2>Williams Companies Price Performance</h2><ul><li>How Williams Companies Is Cashing in on the AI Power Boom</li></ul><p>WMB stock traded down $1.05 on Wednesday, reaching $78.36. 2,260,772 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,933,864. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $73.39 and a 200-day moving average of $67.09. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The firm has a market cap of $95.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. </p><p>Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies's quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS.  As a group, equities analysts predict that  Williams Companies will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year. </p><h2>Insider Activity</h2><ul><li>Williams Companies Stock Climbs as Investors Focus on Gas Demand</li></ul><p>In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. The trade was a 0.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities &amp; Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 117,869 shares of company stock worth $8,814,067 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. </p><h2>Institutional Trading of Williams Companies</h2><p>Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in  Williams Companies by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,052,537,000 after buying an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter.  State Street Corp lifted its holdings in  Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,086,344,000 after buying an additional 1,296,991 shares in the last quarter.  Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter.  Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter.  Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in  Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own  86.44% of the company's stock. </p><h2>About Williams Companies</h2> (Get Free Report)<p>Williams Companies, Inc <span>NYSE: WMB<span></span></span> 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. </p><p>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.</p><h2>See Also</h2><ul><li>Five stocks we like better than Williams Companies</li><li>The Great Cloud Divide: How AI Is Reshuffling the Software Deck</li><li>Eagle Materials: A Dividend-Paying Brick &amp; Mortar AI Play</li><li>Analog Devices Provides Much-Needed Pullback: How Low Can It Go?</li><li>Arhaus Stock Drops to 52-Week Low After Q1 Earnings</li></ul><p><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/RatingsAndPriceTargetChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5ZU0UmU3ltYm9sPVdNQg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="650" height="330" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/RatingsAndPriceTargetChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5ZU0UmU3ltYm9sPVdNQg"/></p><p><em>This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.</em></p><h2>Should You Invest $1,000 in Williams Companies Right Now?</h2><p>Before you consider Williams Companies, you'll want to hear this.</p><p>MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Williams Companies wasn't on the list.</p><p>While Williams Companies currently has a Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.</p><p>View The Five Stocks Here</p>                  </div>

EMLP

MLPX

<p>Morgan Stanley has raised its target price for Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from $90.00 to $98.00, maintaining an 'overweight' rating. This suggests a potential upside of 25.07% from the stock's previous close. Other analysts have also increased their price targets, with a consensus rating of 'Buy' and an average target price of $81.00. The stock recently traded at $78.36, with a market cap of $95.72 billion.</p>

Market Beat

Williams

iShares US Oil Equip & Svcs

First Trust North American Energy Infra Fd

SPDR O&G Ex & Prd

VanEck Oil Services ETF

GLOBAL X MLP & Energy Infra

Morgan Stanley

Bank of Nova Scottia

Jefferies Financial

Toronto Dominion Bank

Wells Fargo

State Street

MORGAN STANLEY DEP SHS EA REP 1/1000 SHS NON CUM PFD O

MORGAN STANLEY DEP SHS REPSTG 1/1000TH PFD SER Q

MORGAN STANLEY DEP SHS REPS 1/1000 7.125% PFD E

MORGAN STANLEY NON-CUM DEP SH REP 1/1000 PFD SER I

MORGAN STANLEY 4.875 DEP SHS REP 1/1000 NCUM PFD SR L

MORGAN STANLEY 6.5%DEP SHS REPSTG 1/1000 NON CUM SER P

MORGAN STANLEY DEP SHS REPS 1/1000 PFD SER 'A'

MORGAN STANLEY DEP SHS REPR 1/1000TH INT PFD SER 'F' FX

MORGAN STANLEY DEP SHS REP 1/1000 NON-CUM PFD STK SER K

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY DP SHS REP 1/1000TH INT NCUM PFD CL A DD

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY 7.5% PERP CONV PRF CLS 'A' SERIES 'L'

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY DEP SHS REP 1/1000 INT PER PFD SER Y A

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY DP SHS REP 1/1000TH INT NCUM PFD CL A CC

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY 4.75% DEP SHS 1/1000 NCUM PFD CL A SR Z

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY DEP SHS REP 1/1000TH INT PFD SR AA (CLA)

State Street® US Equity Premium Inc ETF

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says