The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Raises Dividend to $0.50 Per Share

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Williams Companies has increased its dividend by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years. Williams Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 87.0% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities analysts expect Williams Companies to earn $2.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 98.0%.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $55.37 on Thursday. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.58. The company has a market cap of $67.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.