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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high 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 changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $51.37.

WMB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.0% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 17,519 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $687,000 after buying an additional 2,289 shares during the period. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.5% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 100,631 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $63.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $46.29 and its 200-day moving average is $42.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

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.