The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Receives $53.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.29.

WMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,811,000 after acquiring an additional 19,782 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 9,171 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,062,000 after acquiring an additional 83,429 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,074,000 after acquiring an additional 10,950 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

WMB opened at $57.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $55.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $69.48 billion, a PE ratio of 24.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $33.03 and a twelve month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

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.