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

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 16,519 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 112% compared to the typical volume of 7,787 put options.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total value of $132,780.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Williams Companies

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,963,343 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,052,537,000 after purchasing an additional 883,245 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,586,299 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,077,942,000 after purchasing an additional 6,668,950 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 21,325,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,281,875,000 after buying an additional 3,748,126 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 20,036,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,204,406,000 after buying an additional 239,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,575,898 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $923,383,000 after buying an additional 158,077 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Williams Companies

Here are the key news stories impacting Williams Companies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company reported record 2025 results with strong revenue, operating profit and cash flow that underpin the growth narrative; management is hosting analyst day and highlighting long-term gas demand tailwinds. Williams Delivers Record Results (BusinessWire)
• Positive Sentiment: Management and analysts point to pipeline and offshore projects plus rising data-center and power demand as drivers of higher 2026 profits and longer-term volume growth. Williams Sees Higher 2026 Profit (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is turning more bullish: Wells Fargo raised its target to $80 (overweight) and RBC raised its target to $78 (outperform), adding fresh analyst support and visible upside from current levels. Broker Notes (Benzinga) RBC Raise (TickerReport)
• Positive Sentiment: Market technicals and investor focus on near-term natural gas demand (industrial, AI/data centers, LNG exports) are supporting buyer interest and a breakout to new highs. MarketBeat Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: FY‑2026 EPS guidance was set at $2.20–$2.38, roughly in line with consensus — reinforces guidance visibility but leaves limited surprise potential. Company Press Release / Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy put-option activity was recorded (large put purchases), which could reflect hedging or speculative positioning rather than outright bearish conviction. (No direct article link available)
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 adjusted EPS missed estimates ($0.55 vs. ~ $0.57–$0.58 consensus), which is a near-term drag on upside momentum despite the revenue beat. EPS Miss (Zacks) Earnings Context (MarketBeat)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling activity has been reported (recent open-market sales), which some investors view as a modest governance/near-term signal to monitor. Insider / Institutional Activity (Quiver)

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.4%

WMB stock opened at $71.16 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.90 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $51.58 and a twelve month high of $71.59. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.62.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The pipeline company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.90% and a return on equity of 17.37%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. Williams Companies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.200-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Williams Companies from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Williams Companies Company Profile

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.