Wolfe Research Upgrades Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) to Peer Perform

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wolfe Research from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.74. The stock had a trading volume of 8,203,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,784,000. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $40.41 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's fifty day moving average is $58.59 and its 200 day moving average is $57.36. The stock has a market cap of $72.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $575,103,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth $335,419,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $677,623,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $190,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,370,974 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.