The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.38.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th.

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 stock was 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 $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $332,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.7 %

WMB opened at $53.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $64.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.77, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $53.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $48.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 81.55%.

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.