Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target to $44.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. US Capital Advisors cut Williams Companies from an overweight rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $41.25.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $41.17 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $30.22 and a twelve month high of $41.89. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.13. The firm has a market cap of $50.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.30, a P/E/G ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,417,000. ETF Store Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,820,000 after purchasing an additional 518,009 shares during the period. Rheos Capital Works Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,988,000 after purchasing an additional 245,000 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Williams Companies by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,350,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $49,037,000 after purchasing an additional 77,524 shares during the period. 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.