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

The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 30th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.475 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, June 24th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%.

Williams Companies has raised its dividend by an average of 3.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 8 consecutive years. Williams Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 93.1% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings fall. Equities research analysts expect Williams Companies to earn $2.02 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 94.1%.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.86 on Tuesday, hitting $38.36. 7,907,240 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,989,701. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $46.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.04. Williams Companies has a 52 week low of $28.27 and a 52 week high of $39.76.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The pipeline company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 29.22% and a return on equity of 16.20%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an "underperform" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.22.

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.