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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.00.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. CIBC lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 9,203 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $235,000. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 199,046 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,086,000 after purchasing an additional 17,983 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,709 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.6% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 21,590 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $986,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $57.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.