Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) PT Raised to $54.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at CIBC from $45.00 to $54.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. CIBC’s target price points to a potential upside of 3.37% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.62.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $52.24 on Tuesday. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $52.82. 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 company has a market cap of $63.67 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. The firm 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blackstone Inc. increased 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $224,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,647,469 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 20.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.