Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WES. Citigroup downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Raymond James reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $31.55.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

NYSE:WES opened at $39.40 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a market cap of $14.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.85. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $25.47 and a fifty-two week high of $39.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $37.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.22.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.62. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.50% and a return on equity of 44.76%. The company had revenue of $887.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $868.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were issued a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This is a positive change from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.88%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 98.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. NBW Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 322,010 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,422,000 after buying an additional 64,370 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,521,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,260,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,880,000 after buying an additional 89,444 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,571,428 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,480,000 after purchasing an additional 622,108 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 58,015 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 29,637 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.