Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Receives $37.88 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.88.

WES has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of WES stock opened at $39.79 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.99. Western Midstream Partners has a 1-year low of $27.49 and a 1-year high of $42.80. The company has a market cap of $15.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $883.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $924.83 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WES. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 103,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,127,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $516,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,458,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $57,947,000 after buying an additional 39,827 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,467 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the period. Finally, F M Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Western Midstream Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at $411,000. 84.82% of the stock is currently 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.