Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Western Midstream Partners, LP has received a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from six research firms, with two analysts giving a sell rating, three a hold rating, and one a buy rating.
• The company's quarterly earnings report showed an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.79, missing analyst expectations, while revenue of $917.12 million fell short of forecasts.
• Western Midstream Partners recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 9.2% despite a high payout ratio of 108.66%.

Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Reduce" by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.8333.

Separately, Mizuho reduced 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.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:WES traded up $0.61 on Monday, hitting $39.99. 798,164 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 846,830. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.00 and a 200-day moving average of $39.32. The stock has a market cap of $15.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $33.60 and a fifty-two week high of $43.33.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.04). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $917.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $926.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.02 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.1%. Western Midstream Partners's payout ratio is currently 108.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter valued at $156,967,000. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 33,824,487 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,385,451,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,891 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,417,770 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,000,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608,609 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 23.1% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,366,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 624.5% during the fourth 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. 84.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.