Short Interest in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Expands By 22.8%

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,980,000 shares, a growth of 22.8% from the April 30th total of 4,870,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WES has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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 report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.83.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WES traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.18. 509,357 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,237,209. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.09. Western Midstream Partners 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 2.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.40.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.04). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. The company had revenue of $917.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $926.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This is an increase from Western Midstream Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Western Midstream Partners's dividend payout ratio is currently 108.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $1,385,451,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400,891 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 7.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,417,770 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,000,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608,609 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in 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 worth $279,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366,341 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 624.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 83.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.82% of the company's stock.

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.