Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Given New $55.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price target hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on WMB. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.79.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMB opened at $58.36 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $60.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $51.86 and its 200-day moving average is $46.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.14 billion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after acquiring an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.