The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.00.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WMB opened at $59.22 on Monday. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.76. The stock has a market cap of $72.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $720,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,074,000 after purchasing an additional 10,950 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $545,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.