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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 20,221 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 107% compared to the typical volume of 9,773 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Mizuho boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.90 on Thursday, hitting $57.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,757,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,454,978. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $34.13 and a 1 year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $69.93 billion, a PE ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 103.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 199,046 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,086,000 after buying an additional 17,983 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 132.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 146,247 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,676,000 after buying an additional 83,300 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,061 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 12.6% in the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 143,017 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,529,000 after purchasing an additional 16,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $389,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

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.