Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $71.00 to $76.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Williams Companies traded as high as $68.46 and last traded at $68.1270, with a volume of 2228833 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $66.34.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Tudor Pickering upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,595 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 18,236 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Indivisible Partners purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $7,545,000. RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 9,765 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,837,258 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $172,647,000 after buying an additional 130,335 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $83.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.14.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 108.25%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.