Williams Companies Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:WMB)

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 17,069 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 70% compared to the typical daily volume of 10,062 put options.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total transaction of $211,988.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,323,682.90. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,938,231.45. The trade was a 22.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Towne Trust Company N.A increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 485 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.06. The company had a trading volume of 630,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,865,859. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.56. The company has a market cap of $86.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $55.82 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 92.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Williams Companies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.