The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Declares $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 given a dividend of 0.475 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th.

Williams Companies has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.8% per year over the last three years. Williams Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 90.9% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Analysts expect Williams Companies to earn $2.07 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 91.8%.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.6 %

WMB stock opened at $44.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a P/E/G ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. Williams Companies has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $45.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $43.65 and its 200-day moving average is $40.86.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.83.

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.