Invesco Ltd. Purchases 1,608,609 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP by 7.1%, owning 24.4 million shares valued at over $1 billion as of its latest SEC filing.
• Mizuho has downgraded their price target on WES from $45.00 to $44.00 while maintaining an "outperform" rating, contributing to a consensus rating of "Hold" among analysts.
• Western Midstream Partners announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, representing an annual dividend yield of 9.6% and a payout ratio of 108.66%.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES - Free Report) by 7.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,417,770 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,608,609 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 6.40% of Western Midstream Partners worth $1,000,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WES. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,877 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,491,000 after acquiring an additional 10,343 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,079,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 40,912 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,572,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares during the period. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. RE Dickinson Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,404,381 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $53,971,000 after purchasing an additional 637,266 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.82% of the company's stock.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

WES stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $38.66. 1,017,166 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,305,309. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.18. The company has a market capitalization of $14.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.13. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a twelve month low of $33.60 and a twelve month 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.

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

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company 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 9.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 1st. Western Midstream Partners's dividend payout ratio is currently 112.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.