Argus Upgrades Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) to Buy

Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $42.43 on Thursday. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $30.26 and a 12-month high of $42.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.05 and its 200 day moving average is $37.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NBW Capital LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 270,546 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,543,000 after purchasing an additional 8,775 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 189.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 199,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,769,000 after buying an additional 130,477 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 180.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 638,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,868,000 after buying an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $884,000. Finally, Burney Co. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 50,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after buying an additional 1,437 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.