Williams Companies’ (WMB) “Sector Perform” Rating Reiterated at Scotiabank

Scotiabank reissued their sector perform rating on shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $51.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America initiated 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. UBS Group boosted 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. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $55.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $67.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $55.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.26. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth $30,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 50.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at $38,000. 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.