The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $53.00.

WMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $59.22 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.76. The company has a market capitalization of $72.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month 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.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 115,450 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,907,000 after purchasing an additional 6,413 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Williams Companies by 26.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 47,669 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,026,000 after buying an additional 9,918 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 47.8% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 35,960 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,528,000 after buying an additional 11,627 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 51,477 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,188,000 after buying an additional 5,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 86,692 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,684,000 after buying an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently 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.