Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Reaches New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $52.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Williams Companies traded as high as $46.82 and last traded at $46.82, with a volume of 1499 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $46.36.

WMB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.46.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 181,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,332,000 after acquiring an additional 81,971 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1,086.0% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 183,516 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,392,000 after purchasing an additional 168,042 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 227,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,927,000 after buying an additional 12,800 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 133.2% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 156,589 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,454,000 after buying an additional 89,450 shares during the period. Finally, Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.91. The firm has a market cap of $58.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

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.