Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Stock

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $62.00 to $63.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 12.20% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.71.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded down $1.45 on Tuesday, reaching $56.15. 2,008,938 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,565,155. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $56.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $35.74 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company has a market cap of $68.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,054,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Williams Companies by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.