Analysts Set The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Target Price at $57.77

Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $57.77.

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial boosted 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, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. CIBC raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.1 %

WMB stock opened at $60.01 on Wednesday. Williams Companies has a one year low of $38.43 and a one year high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.77 and a 200-day moving average of $56.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.17 billion, a PE ratio of 32.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.