Investors Purchase High Volume of Williams Companies Put Options (NYSE:WMB)

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 17,069 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 70% compared to the average daily volume of 10,062 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Williams Companies from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Williams Companies from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.40.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $71.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.65. 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 has a 12 month low of $55.82 and a 12 month high of $80.07. The company has a market capitalization of $87.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 92.11%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $3,768,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.35, for a total value of $152,700.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 287,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,924,589.65. This trade represents a 0.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 71,398 shares of company stock worth $5,389,824 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 15,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $920,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,646 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 34,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,096,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 4,220 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.