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

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 140,820 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 1,438% compared to the typical volume of 9,156 call options.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,968,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,377,154.28. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $547,807.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,471 shares of company stock valued at $3,557,023. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% during the fourth 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 grew its stake in Williams Companies by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,981,106 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,086,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,991 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after acquiring an additional 6,668,950 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 46,053,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,768,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in Williams Companies by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 33,572,067 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,018,017,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314,851 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB traded down $0.76 during trading on Thursday, reaching $73.64. 5,648,573 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,430,138. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $76.87. The company’s 50-day moving average is $67.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company has a market cap of $89.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 21.90%.The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 93.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.86.

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.