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

Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $53.29.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Williams Companies by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,339,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $397,230,000 after buying an additional 263,785 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 26,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $542,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 82.5% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 799,160 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $43,251,000 after purchasing an additional 361,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,170,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $58.46 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.07. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.27 billion, a PE ratio of 31.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.83%.

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.