The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) to Issue 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 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 dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Williams Companies has raised its dividend by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years. Williams Companies has a payout ratio of 87.0% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities analysts expect Williams Companies to earn $2.03 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 98.5%.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $56.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a PE ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.61. Williams Companies has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Mizuho raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. CIBC lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.