Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.88.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 6,228,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,597 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in Western Midstream Partners by 6,986.8% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 708,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $27,114,000 after purchasing an additional 698,683 shares during the period. ING Groep NV lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 81.0% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 746,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $28,564,000 after purchasing an additional 334,187 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,556,000 after buying an additional 310,260 shares during the period. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.1% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,315,472 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,330,000 after buying an additional 120,202 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

NYSE:WES opened at $40.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.49 billion, a PE ratio of 10.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 2.88. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $26.81 and a fifty-two week high of $42.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.77.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. The company had revenue of $883.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

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.