Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Williams Companies Put Options (NYSE:WMB)

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 17,796 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 86% compared to the average volume of 9,551 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.56.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $71.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.16. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $55.82 and a 52-week high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced 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. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.11%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.16, for a total value of $148,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 283,159 shares in the company, valued at $20,999,071.44. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $3,768,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 196,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. The trade was a 20.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 66,500 shares of company stock worth $5,029,955 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,052,537,000 after purchasing an additional 883,245 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Williams Companies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,086,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,018,017,000 after buying an additional 3,314,851 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: WMB was identified by Zacks as an energy stock with potential to beat quarterly earnings estimates, based on its Earnings ESP methodology. A positive earnings surprise could support the stock ahead of the company’s results. Zacks earnings potential article
• Positive Sentiment: Williams released its 2025 Sustainability Report, highlighting improved environmental, safety and operating metrics. The company also pointed to rising energy demand and the need for reliable infrastructure, which may reinforce the long-term growth case for its natural-gas pipeline network. Williams sustainability report article
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street projections for the quarter ended June 2026 focus on revenue, earnings and operating metrics. The reports provide context ahead of the earnings release but do not establish a clear positive or negative surprise. Williams Q2 projections article
• Negative Sentiment: US Capital Advisors lowered its estimates across multiple periods: Q2 2026 EPS to $0.48 from $0.49, FY2026 EPS to $2.30 from $2.31, FY2027 EPS to $2.28 from $2.31, and FY2028 EPS to $2.86 from $2.89. The revisions remain below the broader full-year consensus of $2.45 and could weigh on sentiment. In addition, investors bought about 17,796 put options, roughly 86% above typical daily volume, signaling increased hedging or bearish speculation.

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.