Williams Companies Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:WMB)

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 11,087 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 63% compared to the average daily volume of 6,809 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Mizuho upgraded shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.21.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $0.26 during trading on Monday, hitting $59.78. 4,172,587 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,447,131. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $51.58 and a 1-year high of $65.55. The company has a market capitalization of $73.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.72 and its 200-day moving average is $59.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 103.09%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total value of $123,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 297,545 shares in the company, valued at $18,418,035.50. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 13.2% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 4,752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 425,836 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,448,000 after acquiring an additional 6,673 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $662,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Williams Companies

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.