Williams Secondary Offering Boosts Share Price (WMB, WPZ)

After the markets closed last night, Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) announced a secondary stock offering of 26 million shares, some of the proceeds of which would be used to buy additional shares of its pipeline company Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) which recently acquired a gathering system in the Marcellus shale play (our coverage here).

Williams Cos. priced the offering at $30.59/share this morning, exactly the closing price for the stock last night. As a result, investors have actually sent shares higher today.

Williams Cos. shares are trading now at $30.82 in a 52-week range of $21.90-$33.47. Goldman Sachs added Williams Cos. to its ‘Conviction Buy List’ in late February.