The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fifteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.08.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $50.48 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $45.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.40. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $50.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.55%.

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.