Global Partners (NYSE:GLP – Get Free Report) and Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB – Get Free Report) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.
Dividends
Global Partners pays an annual dividend of $3.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Williams Companies pays an annual dividend of $2.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Global Partners pays out 63.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Williams Companies pays out 83.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Global Partners has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Williams Companies has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. Global Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Profitability
This table compares Global Partners and Williams Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Global Partners | 0.91% | 30.87% | 4.92% |
| Williams Companies | 25.17% | 18.49% | 4.75% |
Earnings & Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Global Partners | $18.56 billion | 0.09 | $79.22 million | $4.91 | 10.46 |
| Williams Companies | $12.20 billion | 7.21 | $2.62 billion | $2.51 | 28.66 |
Williams Companies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Global Partners. Global Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Williams Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Global Partners and Williams Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Global Partners | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.33 |
| Williams Companies | 0 | 2 | 15 | 3 | 3.05 |
Global Partners presently has a consensus price target of $46.00, indicating a potential downside of 10.40%. Williams Companies has a consensus price target of $85.67, indicating a potential upside of 19.08%. Given Williams Companies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Williams Companies is more favorable than Global Partners.
Risk & Volatility
Global Partners has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Williams Companies has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
38.1% of Global Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of Williams Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 41.5% of Global Partners shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Williams Companies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Williams Companies beats Global Partners on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Global Partners
Global Partners LP engages in the purchasing, selling, gathering, blending, storing, and logistics of transporting gasoline and gasoline blendstocks, distillates, residual oil, renewable fuels, crude oil, and propane to wholesalers, retailers, and commercial customers. The company operates through three segments: Wholesale, Gasoline Distribution and Station Operations, and Commercial. The Wholesale segment sells home heating oil, branded and unbranded gasoline and gasoline blendstocks, diesel, kerosene, and residual oil to home heating oil and propane retailers and wholesale distributors. This segment also transports the products by railcars, barges, trucks and/or pipelines. Its Gasoline Distribution and Station Operations segment sells branded and unbranded gasoline to gasoline station operators and sub-jobbers; operates gasoline stations and convenience stores; and provides car wash, lottery, and ATM services, as well as leases gasoline stations. The Commercial segment sells and delivers unbranded gasoline, home heating oil, diesel, kerosene, residual oil, and bunker fuel to customers in the public sector, as well as to commercial and industrial end-users; and sells custom blended fuels. The company is also involved in the transportation of petroleum products and renewable fuels through rail from the mid-continent region of the United States and Canada. Global Partners LP was founded in 2005 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
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.
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