The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Plans $0.48 Quarterly Dividend

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 30th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.475 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%.

Williams Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.8% annually over the last three years. Williams Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 92.2% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Research 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 Stock Performance

Shares of WMB traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.41. 2,804,140 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,548,607. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 1.05. Williams Companies has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $45.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.