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

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 17,029 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 54% compared to the average daily volume of 11,080 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.73.

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE WMB traded down $1.67 during 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.36 and a 200-day moving average price 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.59. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $56.19 and a 12-month high of $80.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Williams Companies had a net margin of 25.17% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. 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 83.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.56, for a total transaction of $151,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 264,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,967,410.04. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,414,050. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the second quarter worth approximately $79,196,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 82.6% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 422,885 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,437,000 after purchasing an additional 191,305 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,306,019 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $245,769,000 after acquiring an additional 89,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 13.0% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,734 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.