Williams Cos. Boosts Dividend

By Ezequiel Minaya 

Natural-gas pipeline company Williams Cos. and subsidiary Williams Partners LP said Monday they planned to reset their quarterly payouts and added that the parent company would boost its ownership stake in the limited partnership.

Williams Cos. said it was increasing its dividend for the quarter ending in March by 50%, to 30 cents a share while, for the same period, Williams Partners would cut its distribution by 29% to 60 cents.

Williams Cos. added it would issue 65 million shares of common stock to finance the purchase of some 289 million units of Williams Partners at a price of $36.09 a unit, a 6.6% discount to Monday's closing price. The company estimated that the transaction was valued at $11.4 billion.

Shares of Williams Cos slipped 7.1% to $29.65 after hours, while shares of Williams Partners sagged 6.4% after hours to $36.18.

Williams Cos. set up its infrastructure partnership in 2005 to hold pipelines and natural-gas processing facilities.

Shares of Williams Cos. and Williams Partners have risen 57% and 65%, respectively, in the past 12 months as energy companies have started to recover following a prolonged downturn in energy prices.

During the slump, oil prices fell to 12-year low below $28 a barrel in 2016. The market, however, has since been buoyed by efforts by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 09, 2017 18:18 ET (23:18 GMT)

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