Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, July 24th.
According to Zacks, “Williams Partners’ natural gas infrastructure assets comprise the fastest growing pipeline networks that carry the highest volumes of natural gas in the U.S. from the best supply basins in North America. We appreciate the partnership’s intention of allocating capital budget toward the expansion of the Transco pipeline system that will provide stable fee-based revenues. However, increasing debt load, which is weighing on the partnership’s balance sheet, could delay pipeline expansions. Moreover, the pricing chart shows that Williams Partners has underperformed the Zacks categorized Energy & Pipeline MLP industry over the last one year. Also, unfavorable government ruling for environmental needs could delay the partnership’s current and upcoming pipeline projects.”
Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Credit Suisse Group raised Williams Partners from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Citigroup Inc. raised Williams Partners from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Friday, April 7th. BidaskClub raised Williams Partners from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. BMO Capital Markets set a $47.00 target price on Williams Partners and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, TheStreet raised Williams Partners from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Williams Partners currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $44.77.
Shares of Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) traded down 0.73% on Monday, reaching $39.42. The company had a trading volume of 1,049,456 shares. The firm has a market cap of $37.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68 and a beta of 1.43. Williams Partners has a one year low of $32.93 and a one year high of $42.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.27.
Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Williams Partners had a net margin of 17.82% and a return on equity of 5.97%. On average, analysts expect that Williams Partners will post $0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
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The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.09%. Williams Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 143.71%.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RMB Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Williams Partners during the first quarter worth about $407,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Williams Partners by 10.7% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 21,252 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 2,048 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Williams Partners by 1.0% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 225,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,110,000 after buying an additional 2,246 shares during the last quarter. Omega Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Williams Partners by 4.0% in the first quarter. Omega Advisors Inc. now owns 749,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,582,000 after buying an additional 29,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Williams Partners by 21.1% in the first quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 94,984 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,878,000 after buying an additional 16,518 shares during the last quarter. 23.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Williams Partners
Williams Partners L.P. is an energy infrastructure company. The Company has operations across the natural gas value chain from gathering, processing, and interstate transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids to petchem production of ethylene, propylene, and other olefins. It operates through its Northeast G&P, Atlantic-Gulf, West segment.
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