Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $47.00 to $56.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Williams Companies traded as high as $52.11 and last traded at $52.05, with a volume of 641070 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $51.37.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on WMB. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 31,206 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schulhoff & Co. Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 17,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.3 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.69. The firm has a market cap of $63.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04, a PEG ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 81.55%.

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.