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

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 11,087 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 63% compared to the average volume of 6,809 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.21.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of WMB stock opened at $60.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $65.55. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.63.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.90, for a total value of $123,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 297,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,418,035.50. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Investment Advisors MI bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at about $295,000. Keel Point LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 13,888 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $880,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Williams Companies by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 102,868 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,517,000 after buying an additional 5,875 shares in the last quarter. Investment Research Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at approximately $341,000. Finally, Connors Investor Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 289,427 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $18,335,000 after buying an additional 60,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.