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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 128,815 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,960% compared to the typical volume of 4,209 call options.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of WMB opened at $55.19 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $67.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.05. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,482,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,556,000 after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 82,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,756,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in Williams Companies by 48.8% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 19,533 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 6,409 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.07.

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.