Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Issues Earnings Results, Meets Expectations

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The pipeline company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54, FiscalAI reports. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%. The business had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB traded down $3.11 during trading on Monday, reaching $71.24. The stock had a trading volume of 8,963,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,170,534. The stock has a market cap of $87.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.38, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48. Williams Companies has a one year low of $56.19 and a one year high of $80.07. The business has a 50-day moving average of $72.21 and a 200-day moving average of $72.28.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 28th. Investors of record on Friday, December 11th will be given a $0.5250 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 83.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.06.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.85, for a total value of $135,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 262,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,794,273.15. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 17,000 shares of company stock worth $1,260,130 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc is an energy infrastructure company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1908 as Williams Brothers, the company has evolved from an early pipeline contractor into a major operator of natural gas infrastructure in the United States.

Williams primarily gathers, processes, transports and stores natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its assets include interstate and regional pipelines, gas processing and fractionation facilities, storage operations, and gathering systems that connect producers with utilities, industrial customers, power generators and other energy markets.