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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th.

Williams Companies has increased 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% 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 $2.04 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 Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $54.56 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.03. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $60.36. The company has a market cap of $66.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.