Analysts Set The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Price Target at $42.58

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.83.

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $45.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $43.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.14. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.79.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued 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. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $306,417,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 40.1% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $224,203,000 after buying an additional 1,647,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,223,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.