Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

WES has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of WES opened at $39.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Western Midstream Partners has a one year low of $26.40 and a one year high of $42.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.64 and a 200 day moving average of $37.98.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Western Midstream Partners

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American National Bank grew its stake 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 buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.7% during the second quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 48,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,937,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Belfer Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 4.4% during the first quarter. Belfer Management LLC now owns 9,957 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 1.9% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 22,508 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 40.2% during the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.