Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) – Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group raised their Q2 2020 earnings estimates for shares of Williams Companies in a report issued on Wednesday, December 18th, according to Zacks Investment Research. Jefferies Financial Group analyst C. Sighinolfi now expects that the pipeline company will post earnings per share of $0.27 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.26. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Williams Companies’ Q3 2020 earnings at $0.28 EPS, FY2020 earnings at $1.07 EPS, FY2021 earnings at $1.20 EPS, FY2022 earnings at $1.28 EPS and FY2023 earnings at $1.32 EPS.
Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The pipeline company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 6.95%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.2% on a year-over-year basis.
Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on WMB. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, November 25th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotia Howard Weill started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $23.60 price target for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $28.04.
WMB stock opened at $23.59 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $21.17 and a 52-week high of $29.55. The firm has a market cap of $28.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.86, a PEG ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 1.56.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,785.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 117,617 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,298,000 after acquiring an additional 113,541 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,886 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 2,761,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $77,428,000 after acquiring an additional 263,273 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 98,988 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,267,270 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $63,574,000 after acquiring an additional 12,603 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.73% of the company’s stock.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.44%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 192.41%.
About Williams Companies
The Williams Companies, Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. The company’s Northeast G&P segment engages in the natural gas gathering, compression, and processing business, as well as natural gas liquids (NGL) fractionation business in the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, and Ohio.
