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. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st.

Western Midstream Partners has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.2% annually over the last three years. Western Midstream Partners has a dividend payout ratio of 94.9% 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 Stock Performance

Shares of WES opened at $38.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.22. Western Midstream Partners has a 12 month low of $26.49 and a 12 month high of $42.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.87.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.38.

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.