Cetera Investment Advisers Boosts Stock Holdings in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 68.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,800 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,826 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $1,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,809,161 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $876,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406,362 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 8,064,089 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $309,903,000 after acquiring an additional 159,016 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 1,683,790 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,708,000 after acquiring an additional 15,978 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,404,381 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $53,971,000 after buying an additional 637,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,049,979 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,351,000 after buying an additional 53,961 shares in the last quarter. 84.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.33.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $39.25 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 52-week low of $33.60 and a 52-week high of $43.33. The company has a market cap of $14.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.01, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.12.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $917.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $926.55 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This is an increase from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is currently 108.66%.

About Western Midstream Partners

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.