The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.50 Per Share

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years. Williams Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 82.6% 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 $1.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.1%.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB traded up $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.37. 6,822,368 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,806,696. The company has a market capitalization of $67.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. Williams Companies has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $61.46.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% 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.