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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) 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 yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 payment by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years. Williams Companies has a 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 tumble. Equities research 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

WMB traded down $1.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $55.43. The stock had a trading volume of 7,581,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,043,289. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.80. The firm has a market cap of $67.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a P/E/G ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.06. Williams Companies has a one year low of $32.65 and a one 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.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.