Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47, Zacks reports. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $54.83. 7,955,576 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,376,858. The company has a market capitalization of $66.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.14, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

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.