Scotiabank Boosts Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Price Target to $59.00

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at Scotiabank from $52.00 to $59.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "sector perform" rating on the pipeline company's stock. Scotiabank's target price suggests a potential downside of 2.44% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WMB. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:WMB traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $60.47. 4,844,340 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,758,797. The firm has a market cap of $73.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $58.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.32.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,838,312,000 after purchasing an additional 807,019 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 29,624,104 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,770,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680,477 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,025,795,000 after acquiring an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,047,025,000 after buying an additional 932,998 shares during the period. 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.