F&V Capital Management LLC Invests $284,000 in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

F&V Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 8,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WES. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,418,703 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,435,000 after purchasing an additional 44,176 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the first quarter worth $1,012,000. American National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 34.5% during the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,190 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 1st quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 270,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,900,000 after purchasing an additional 69,000 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WES has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded 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 lifted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. StockNews.com cut Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.55.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WES traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.40. The company had a trading volume of 958,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,235,338. The company has a market cap of $14.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.18. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12-month low of $25.47 and a 12-month high of $39.89.

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

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

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

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.