Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) versus Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) Head-To-Head Comparison

Mplx (NYSE:MPLX) and Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) are both large-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Mplx and Williams Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mplx	36.34%	32.08%	11.57%
Williams Companies	21.18%	15.95%	4.37%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Mplx and Williams Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mplx	1	1	6	0	2.63
Williams Companies	0	7	7	0	2.50

Mplx currently has a consensus target price of $55.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.15%. Williams Companies has a consensus target price of $61.25, suggesting a potential upside of 1.34%. Given Mplx’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Mplx is more favorable than Williams Companies.

Dividends

Mplx pays an annual dividend of $3.83 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Williams Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Mplx pays out 88.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Williams Companies pays out 107.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mplx has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years and Williams Companies has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Mplx is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

24.3% of Mplx shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of Williams Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Williams Companies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Mplx has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Williams Companies has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mplx and Williams Companies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mplx	$11.93 billion	4.39	$4.32 billion	$4.33	11.85
Williams Companies	$10.50 billion	7.02	$2.23 billion	$1.87	32.32

Mplx has higher revenue and earnings than Williams Companies. Mplx is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Williams Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Mplx beats Williams Companies on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mplx

MPLX LP engages in the operation of midstream energy infrastructure and logistics assets, and distribution fuels services. It operates through the Crude Oil and Products Logistics and Natural Gas and NGL Services segments. The Crude Oil and Products Logistics segment transports, stores, distributes, and markets crude oil, asphalt, refined petroleum products, and water. The Natural Gas and NGL Services segment gathers, processes, and transports natural gas, and gathers, transports, fractionates, stores, and markets natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company was founded on March 27, 2012 and is headquartered in Findlay, OH.

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. The Northeast G&P segment engages in the midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation activities in the Marcellus Shale region primarily in Pennsylvania and New York, and the Utica Shale region of eastern Ohio. The West segment consists of gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas, the Haynesville Shale region of northwest Louisiana, the Mid-Continent region that includes the Anadarko and Permian basins, and the DJ Basin of Colorado; and operates natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation and storage facilities in central Kansas near Conway. The Gas & NGL Marketing Services segment provides wholesale marketing, trading, storage, and transportation of natural gas for natural gas utilities, municipalities, power generators, and producers; asset management services; and transports and markets NGLs. The company owns and operates 33,000 miles of pipelines. The Williams Companies, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.