Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an underperform rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial boosted 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 raised shares of Williams Companies from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $42.50.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB traded down $0.60 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.26. The company had a trading volume of 6,048,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,628,597. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 1.05. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $45.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.20.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, SouthState Corp acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.