Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

WMB has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. US Capital Advisors lowered Williams Companies from an overweight rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. CIBC increased their price target on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $41.25.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $41.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.14. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $30.22 and a fifty-two week high of $41.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.30, a P/E/G ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.62%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,086,234 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $643,015,000 after purchasing an additional 712,048 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 8.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,455,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $486,991,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,150 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 7.3% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,628,627 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $459,148,000 after buying an additional 921,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

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.