Williams Boosts Quarterly Dividend

(RTTNews) - Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB) said Tuesday that its board of directors has approved a regular dividend of $0.57 on the company's common stock, payable on December 29 to holders of record on December 12.

The new amount is an increase of $0.19, or 50%, from the fourth-quarter 2013 dividend. Williams' full-year 2014 shareholder dividend of $1.96 per share is an increase of about 36% over the full year 2013 amount.

In addition to the fourth-quarter 2014 dividend increase, Williams also is affirming dividend-growth guidance of about 15% annually - from the higher third-quarter 2014 base - through 2017 with planned dividends of about $2.46 in 2015, $2.82 in 2016, and $3.25 in 2017.

The expected quarterly increases in Williams' dividend are subject to quarterly approval of the company's board of directors.