Williams Partners LP Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.60 (NYSE:WPZ)

Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 24th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the pipeline company on Friday, August 11th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 2nd.

Williams Partners has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years. Williams Partners has a payout ratio of 131.9% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Williams Partners to earn $1.78 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 134.8%.

Williams Partners (NYSE WPZ) opened at 37.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $36.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.69 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.03 and its 200-day moving average is $40.11. Williams Partners has a 52-week low of $32.93 and a 52-week high of $42.32.

Williams Partners (NYSE:WPZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.09. Williams Partners had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 17.82%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Williams Partners will post $0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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A number of research firms recently weighed in on WPZ. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Williams Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. Barclays PLC upgraded shares of Williams Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $44.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Williams Partners in a research note on Friday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets set a $47.00 price target on shares of Williams Partners and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Williams Partners from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Friday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.77.

About Williams Partners

Williams Partners L.P. is an energy infrastructure company. The Company has operations across the natural gas value chain from gathering, processing, and interstate transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids to petchem production of ethylene, propylene, and other olefins. It operates through its Northeast G&P, Atlantic-Gulf, West segment.