Western Midstream Partners, LP (WES) — payout ratio, two ways
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Utilities · payout ratios computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
GAAP earnings is not shown for this company. It cannot be computed from what this company files — the inputs are absent from its XBRL, not zero. The figure marked in the table is operating cash flow instead.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | 64.4% | Closer to meaningful than free cash flow, but still before the capital programme the regulator expects the company to run. |
| Free cash flow | 95.7% | What is left after the capital programme. For a regulated utility that programme is growth into the rate base, recovered through rates and funded by debt and equity issuance by design — so this figure swings with the capex cycle and frequently goes negative. It says little about whether the dividend is affordable. |
No GAAP earnings figure is shown. This company does not report the inputs for it in its XBRL filings — capital expenditure, in particular, is often folded into a single investing total rather than tagged on its own. The figure is absent from the filings, not zero, and inventing one from a balance-sheet movement would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Spread between highest and lowest: 31 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 33 / 100 — Strained. ? Peer standing · not rankedDirection 4/30Stability 12/20
Operating cash flow payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 64.4% |
| 2024-12-31 | 58.3% |
| 2023-12-31 | 58.9% |
| 2022-12-31 | 43.2% |
| 2021-12-31 | 30.2% |
| 2020-12-31 | 42.5% |
The arithmetic
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $1,431.0m ÷ operating cash flow $2,222.6m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $1,431.0m ÷ (operating cash flow $2,222.6m − capex $728.0m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · accession
0001423902-26-000030
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.