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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 14,453 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 22% compared to the typical volume of 11,855 put options.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WMB. 111 Capital acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $456,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 315,936 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $17,098,000 after buying an additional 95,835 shares during the period. Anchor Pointe Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $222,000. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $249,000. Finally, Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $952,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.21.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.4 %

WMB stock traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $61.04. 2,478,003 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,167,079. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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.