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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 75,195 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 711% compared to the typical volume of 9,276 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, May 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.6%

WMB stock opened at $59.74 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $72.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.37. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Militia Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $299,000. First Hawaiian Bank increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 29.0% in the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 53,795 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,215,000 after purchasing an additional 12,100 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $200,000. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at about $15,786,000. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 2.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 772,456 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $46,162,000 after acquiring an additional 21,066 shares during the last quarter. 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.