Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) Given New $70.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $58.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on WMB. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $61.14 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.17. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $37.18 and a fifty-two week high of $61.55. The company has a market cap of $74.55 billion, a PE ratio of 33.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $575,103,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in 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 buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $273,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,906 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.