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

Key Points

• Unusually high put-option activity: Traders purchased 17,029 put options on Williams Companies, 54% above the typical daily volume of 11,080, signaling heightened hedging or bearish positioning.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish: Williams has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $85.73, with recent targets ranging from $75 to $88.
• Dividend and investor activity: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, representing a 2.9% yield, while institutional investors own 86.44% of its stock. An insider also sold 13,000 shares for approximately $973,310.

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 17,029 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 54% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,080 put options.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 13,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.87, for a total transaction of $973,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 268,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,077,064.33. The trade was a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,414,050. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WMB. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $79,196,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 82.6% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 422,885 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $31,437,000 after purchasing an additional 191,305 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.8% in the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 9,460 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $703,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.8% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,306,019 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $245,769,000 after purchasing an additional 89,010 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.0% in the second quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,734 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $798,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $85.73.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock traded down $1.67 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $73.48. 1,522,042 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,990,095. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.59. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $56.19 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.48.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 25.17%.Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.67%.

About Williams Companies

Williams Companies, Inc is an energy infrastructure company focused primarily on gathering, processing, transporting and storing natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company provides the infrastructure and related services that connect natural gas supplies with utilities, power generators, industrial customers, liquefied natural gas facilities and other markets.

Williams operates a large network of interstate and regional natural gas pipelines, gathering systems, processing facilities and storage assets across the United States.

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