Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Raises Dividend to $0.53 Per Share

Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the pipeline company on Monday, March 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a 5.0% increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Williams Companies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 9 years. Williams Companies has a dividend payout ratio of 82.3% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. 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 1.7%

NYSE:WMB traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.58. The company had a trading volume of 2,056,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,049,293. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.64. Williams Companies has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $66.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 20.61% and a return on equity of 16.74%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Williams Companies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.010-2.190 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Williams Companies will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 302,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,319,101.85. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Williams Companies

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 24,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 2.6% during the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,169 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 8,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.