Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 6,400 Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 6,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in Western Midstream Partners by 133.3% during the first quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 555.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,180 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. 84.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WES shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.83.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $38.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $38.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.26. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a fifty-two week low of $33.60 and a fifty-two week high of $43.33. The company has a market cap of $14.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.08.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $917.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $926.55 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 38.52% and a net margin of 35.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is an increase from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 108.66%.

Western Midstream Partners 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.