Fayez Sarofim & Co Raises Position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Key Points

• Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP by 80.2%, owning 26,490 shares valued at approximately $1,085,000.
• An analyst from Mizuho has lowered the price target for Western Midstream Partners from $45.00 to $44.00, currently rating it as "outperform," while the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $39.83.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91, resulting in an annualized yield of 9.5%, with a dividend payout ratio of 108.66%.

Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its holdings in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES - Free Report) by 80.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,490 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 11,786 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co's holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $1,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WES. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 33,824,487 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,385,451,000 after buying an additional 2,400,891 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,273,186 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $279,509,000 after buying an additional 1,366,341 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 624.5% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 785,096 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $30,171,000 after purchasing an additional 676,729 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 worth $53,971,000 after purchasing an additional 637,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 4th quarter worth $19,079,000. 84.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

WES stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.84. 694,219 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,174,989. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.68 and a beta of 1.13. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 52 week low of $33.60 and a 52 week high of $43.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.21.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.05. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 37.70% and a net margin of 34.45%. The firm had revenue of $942.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Western Midstream Partners's payout ratio is currently 112.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.80.

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.