The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.48

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 5th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.475 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%.

Williams Companies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.8% annually over the last three years. Williams Companies has a payout ratio of 90.0% 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 $2.11 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 90.0%.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $53.05. The stock had a trading volume of 5,661,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,244,506. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.03. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $53.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $48.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.96.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Mizuho increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.38.

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.