Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Given New $78.00 Price Target at Royal Bank Of Canada

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price target upped by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $75.00 to $78.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 9.64% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on WMB. Zacks Research raised shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.43.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $2.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.14. 5,747,432 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,127,381. The company has a market cap of $86.88 billion, a PE ratio of 36.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $51.58 and a 52-week high of $71.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.16 and a 200 day moving average of $60.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total value of $132,780.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 293,545 shares in the company, valued at $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 883,245 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $923,383,000 after buying an additional 158,077 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $747,749,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on WMB to $80 and moved to an “overweight” rating, giving the stock visible analyst support and a notable implied upside. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Management and reporters flagged stronger 2026 profit prospects driven by new onshore and offshore pipeline projects and LNG activity — a growth story that supports midstream earnings expansion. Williams sees higher 2026 profit as pipeline projects drive growth (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Company Investor/Analyst?Day messaging emphasized long?run natural gas demand drivers (industrial reshoring, power for AI/data centers, and LNG exports), bolstering the bull case that WMB’s assets are positioned for secular volume growth. Analyst Day presentation (Williams)
• Neutral Sentiment: FY?2026 EPS guidance was set at $2.20–$2.38 — a wide band that includes consensus, so it signals steady future earnings but leaves room for analyst model updates. Williams Delivers Another Year of Record Results (BusinessWire)
• Negative Sentiment: Reported Q4 EPS of $0.55 missed consensus (~$0.57–$0.58), a near?term earnings disappointment even though revenue beat at $3.2B and management highlighted record results. WMB Misses Q4 Earnings Estimates (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Options flow showed a spike in put purchases (roughly 16,519 puts), indicating increased hedging or short/bearish positioning by traders ahead of/after the print.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling activity was reported (no insider buys), which investors sometimes view as a slight governance/near?term confidence warning; institutional positioning remained mixed. QuiverQuant Q4 summary & insider activity

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.