Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) PT Raised to $55.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price lifted by UBS Group from $51.00 to $55.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

WMB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $43.50.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of WMB opened at $45.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $44.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.35. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $32.49 and a 52 week high of $45.82.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted 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. The company 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 quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its holdings in 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 worth $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $306,417,000. 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.