Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB)

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 140,820 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,438% compared to the average volume of 9,156 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Todd J. Rinke sold 7,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 26,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,938,231.45. This trade represents a 22.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 10,107 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $757,115.37. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,699.30. This trade represents a 36.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,471 shares of company stock worth $3,557,023. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,635 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the first quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,324 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 101.4% during the second quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 18,880 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 9,504 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $73.64 on Friday. Williams Companies has a 12 month low of $51.58 and a 12 month high of $76.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.96 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 93.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Williams Companies from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of Williams Companies from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.86.

About Williams Companies

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.