Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $52.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Williams Companies traded as high as $46.82 and last traded at $46.82, with a volume of 1499 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $46.36.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039,703 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.2 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.91. 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 company has a market cap of $58.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.