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

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.88.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WES shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WES. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 16.1% in the third quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.7% in the second quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 48,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,937,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Western Midstream Partners by 6.2% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,053 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its position in Western Midstream Partners by 1.9% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 22,508 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $38.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.88. Western Midstream Partners has a 52-week low of $26.81 and a 52-week high of $42.80. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $38.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.70.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.99% and a return on equity of 46.02%. The firm had revenue of $883.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 89.29%.

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.