Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.60.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $31.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 27th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $33.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 25,442,166 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $683,122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,145 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the second quarter valued at about $44,781,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,445,899 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $117,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309,095 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 65.0% during the 1st quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,799,876 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $73,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,543 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,012,565 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $126,417,000 after buying an additional 623,000 shares in the last quarter. 42.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of WES stock opened at $27.10 on Monday. Western Midstream Partners has a twelve month low of $23.24 and a twelve month high of $29.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.64. The company has a market cap of $10.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 2.76.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The pipeline company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $738.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.73 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 34.08% and a return on equity of 34.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.5625 per share. This represents a $2.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 28th. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.27%.

Western Midstream Partners Company Profile

Western Midstream Partners, LP, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a midstream energy company primarily in the United States. It is involved in gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas; gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and crude oil; and gathering and disposing produced water.