Williams Companies’ (WMB) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $63.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on WMB. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.50.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.0%

WMB opened at $58.77 on Friday. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $39.88 and a 1-year high of $61.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.66 billion, a PE ratio of 32.11, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66. 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 50-day moving average price of $58.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.93.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. 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.