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

Key Points

• Williams Companies saw unusually heavy options activity on Tuesday, with 17,069 put options traded — about 70% above its typical volume of 10,062.
• Analysts remain broadly upbeat on WMB, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock holding an average “Buy” rating and $82.40 average target price.
• The company reported solid quarterly results and announced a dividend, beating EPS estimates at $0.73, while declaring a $0.525 per share quarterly payout that implies a 3.0% annual yield.

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 17,069 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 70% compared to the typical volume of 10,062 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $84.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $82.40.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Payvand Fazel sold 2,898 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.15, for a total value of $211,988.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,766 shares in the company, valued at $2,323,682.90. This trade represents a 8.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John Dean Porter sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 196,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,815,254.79. This represents a 20.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,762 shares of company stock worth $5,937,632. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 568,928 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $35,734,000 after purchasing an additional 11,926 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 160.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 165,035 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $10,366,000 after purchasing an additional 101,574 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.06. 630,180 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,865,859. 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 $86.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.58. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $55.82 and a twelve month high of $80.07. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $73.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.56.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 23.39%.The company's quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 12th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

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.

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