Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

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

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WMB. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an underperform rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Williams Companies from an overweight rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $42.50 on Wednesday. Williams Companies has a one year low of $31.98 and a one year high of $43.22. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.60 and its 200 day moving average is $37.57. The company has a market capitalization of $51.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 22,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $884,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the first quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.6% during the first quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 17,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the first quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,770 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4.9% during the first quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 6,116 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during 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.