Williams shares rally on dividend hike, outlook

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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Williams Companies Inc. shares jumped 12% to $31.10 in pre-market trades on Thursday. The company said it's hiking its dividend by 60% to 20 cents a share for the first quarter of 2011, to be paid in June. An additional 10% to 15% increase is planned with the June 2012 dividend payment. For 2011 earnings, Williams also expects a profit of $1.40 a share, based on the midpoint of its range of $1.05 to $1.75 a share. That puts it ahead of the Wall Street forecast of $1.26 a share for the year, according to a survey of analsts by FactSet Research.

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