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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 40,791 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 381% compared to the typical volume of 8,479 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,811,000 after buying an additional 19,782 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after acquiring an additional 83,429 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,074,000 after acquiring an additional 10,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brendel Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WMB. Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.0 %

WMB traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $55.43. 7,581,334 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,747,371. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.