Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target Increased to $56.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $47.00 to $56.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.20% from the company’s previous close.

WMB has been the topic of several other research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Argus raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.83.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $51.28. 1,423,047 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,264,025. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.05. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $51.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 8.8% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after buying an additional 618,056 shares during 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.