Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $64.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on WMB. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.50.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE WMB opened at $57.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $57.91 and its 200-day moving average is $56.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Williams Companies has a one year low of $39.34 and a one year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,838,312,000 after acquiring an additional 807,019 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,047,025,000 after buying an additional 932,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.