Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Plans $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Williams Companies, Inc. announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, ensuring an annualized dividend of $2.00, with a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is set for September 12th.
• The company reported earnings of $0.60 per share for the previous quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue rising 10% year-over-year to $3.05 billion.
• Recent analyst upgrades have increased the stock's price targets, with Wells Fargo setting a new target of $67.00 and indicating a strong "buy" rating.

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, September 29th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th.

Williams Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 82.3% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings fall. Analysts expect Williams Companies to earn $2.32 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 86.2%.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of WMB traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $60.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,532,592 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,753,360. The firm has a market cap of $73.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies has a 1-year low of $40.41 and a 1-year high of $63.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.27.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Williams Companies will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.77.

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.