Hardy Reed LLC Buys 4,000 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Hardy Reed LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 26.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,850 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 42.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 108,367 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 32,119 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 6.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 996,018 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $38,108,000 after purchasing an additional 60,603 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 293.1% during the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 29,878 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,143,000 after purchasing an additional 22,277 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,556,000 after purchasing an additional 310,260 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 60.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,785,105 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $68,298,000 after purchasing an additional 670,440 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 0.6 %

WES stock opened at $41.36 on Thursday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a twelve month low of $29.07 and a twelve month high of $43.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.30 and its 200-day moving average is $39.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.88.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.46%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com cut Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.88.

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.