Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $51.00 to $55.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Williams Companies traded as high as $45.81 and last traded at $45.78, with a volume of 137033 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $45.53.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on WMB. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 14,707 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in Williams Companies by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,169 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 3,770 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 53,218 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 339.1% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 15,856 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 12,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $306,417,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

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.