Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $36.75.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

WES opened at $38.68 on Friday. Western Midstream Partners has a 1 year low of $26.49 and a 1 year high of $42.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.72 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.87.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly 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. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The firm had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 96.0% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,928,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $68,547,000 after buying an additional 944,494 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 4,165,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $148,095,000 after buying an additional 895,715 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after buying an additional 265,143 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 12,980,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $461,465,000 after buying an additional 259,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 2,953,510 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $104,997,000 after buying an additional 77,942 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

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.