Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $58.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $52.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on WMB. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $49.63 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $60.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.05. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $32.63 and a 12-month high of $49.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 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.