The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.22.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Everett Harris & Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Patten Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 23,899 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,476 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 11,753 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 12,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $39.25 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.82. The firm has a market cap of $47.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.05. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $28.27 and a twelve month high of $39.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 29.22% and a return on equity of 16.20%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.84%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.52%.

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.