The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Receives $41.77 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.08.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $27,000. Fairman Group LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, SouthState Corp bought a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $31,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $42.20 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.10. The company has a market cap of $51.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.96.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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 firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

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.