Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Upgraded to Overweight by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $58.00 target price on the pipeline company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $52.00.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WMB. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $45.23.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.9 %

WMB stock opened at $49.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.00. Williams Companies has a one year low of $32.63 and a one year high of $49.67. The stock has a market cap of $60.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.83%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1,086.0% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 183,516 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,392,000 after purchasing an additional 168,042 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 227,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,927,000 after buying an additional 12,800 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its position in Williams Companies by 133.2% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 156,589 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,454,000 after buying an additional 89,450 shares during the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,407,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $188,338,000 after buying an additional 506,598 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.