Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Price Target Cut to $34.00 by Analysts at Mizuho

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) had its target price lowered by Mizuho from $35.00 to $34.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on WES. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $33.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, May 11th. StockNews.com began coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an overweight rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $30.50.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $25.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.62. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $23.24 and a fifty-two week high of $29.18. The company has a market cap of $9.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 2.76.

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

Western Midstream Partners Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 31st were issued a $0.5625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 28th. This represents a $2.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.70%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.27%.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WES. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 11,853 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 67,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 15,616 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 261,945 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,606,000 after purchasing an additional 25,249 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 9,492 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,108,739 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,962,000 after purchasing an additional 136,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.02% of the company’s stock.

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.