Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Announces $0.88 Quarterly Dividend

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.875 per share by the pipeline company on Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st.

Western Midstream Partners has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.2% per year over the last three years. Western Midstream Partners has a payout ratio of 94.6% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Research analysts expect Western Midstream Partners to earn $3.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 95.9%.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of WES opened at $37.49 on Thursday. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $26.49 and a fifty-two week high of $42.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.41. The stock has a market cap of $14.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.09. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. The business had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $904.94 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WES has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.13.

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.