Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Aug 9th, 2026

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB – Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday.

WMB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.62.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on WMB

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $70.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $86.08 billion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.54. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.Williams Companies’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.48, for a total transaction of $917,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 98,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,789.12. This represents a 10.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.65, for a total transaction of $141,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 281,159 shares in the company, valued at $19,863,883.35. This represents a 0.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 18,500 shares of company stock worth $1,402,755 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Apella Capital LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.3% in the second quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the second quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 16,153 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,830 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,986 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

(Get Free Report)

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.