Feb 12 (Reuters) - Williams raised its dividend after narrowly beating Wall

Street estimates for fourth quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by gains from acquisitions and

expansion projects.

Last year, the oil and gas transportation firm made a series of acquisitions to boost its

capacity, hoping to tap into an expected spike in demand for power-consuming AI data centers.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company acquired natural gas storage assets in the U.S. Gulf Coast

from an affiliate of Hartree Partners for $1.95 billion last year.

Williams' quarterly adjusted core profit from its Transmission and Gulf segment was up about

10% at $826 million from a year earlier.

The pipeline operator was also helped by its Regional Energy Access (REA) expansion project,

which was designed to meet rising gas demand and ease supply constraints affecting customers in

Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.

Last month, the U.S. energy regulator reinstated the certificate for Williams'

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), which would allow the expansion of the project.

Williams also raised its current year dividend by 5.3% to $2.00 and increased the midpoint

of its adjusted core profit forecast by 3%, to between $7.45 billion and $7.85 billion.

The company reported an adjusted profit of 47 cents per share for the quarter ended December

31, beating Wall Street estimates by one cent, according to data compiled by LSEG.