Williams Companies (WMB) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Credit Suisse Group

Equities researchers at Credit Suisse Group started coverage on shares of Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $36.00 price target on the pipeline company’s stock. Credit Suisse Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.91% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WMB. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, September 25th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.08.

Williams Companies (WMB) traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $32.46. 6,197,216 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,830,000. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $26.82 and a twelve month high of $32.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $26,840.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.04). Williams Companies had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 3.23%. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. equities analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current year.

In related news, VP Ted T. Timmermans sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.75, for a total value of $43,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $275,827.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Alan S. Armstrong purchased 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.23 per share, with a total value of $163,380.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 345,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,408,700.21. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 75,368,938 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,282,171,000 after buying an additional 1,347,813 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 9.9% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 64,872,653 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,964,347,000 after buying an additional 5,850,607 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 4.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,726 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,939,819,000 after buying an additional 2,671,905 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Williams Companies by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,452,276 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,285,450,000 after buying an additional 162,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 0.5% in the third quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 15,290,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $458,879,000 after buying an additional 78,109 shares in the last quarter. 84.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc is an energy infrastructure company. The Company is focused on connecting North America’s hydrocarbon resource plays to markets for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), and olefins. As of December 31, 2016, its interstate gas pipelines, midstream and olefins production interests were held through its investment in Williams Partners L.P.