Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Raised to $54.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective increased by CIBC from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. CIBC currently has a neutral rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on WMB. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.62.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $52.62 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $52.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.14.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.1% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew 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 buying an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,985,000 after buying an additional 1,024,158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.