Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Given New $64.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price objective lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $63.00 to $64.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.15.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $59.00 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.60. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $38.76 and a 52-week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $71.94 billion, a PE ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,811,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners grew its position in Williams Companies by 319.9% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,062,000 after buying an additional 83,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $995,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.