Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

WES has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $39.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $32.56.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $39.81 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $15.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.90. Western Midstream Partners has a 12 month low of $25.69 and a 12 month high of $42.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.25.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.62. The business had revenue of $887.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $868.22 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.50% and a return on equity of 44.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.79%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. NBW Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 322,010 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,422,000 after purchasing an additional 64,370 shares in the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the fourth quarter worth $1,521,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the first quarter worth $1,967,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,260,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,880,000 after purchasing an additional 89,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 58,015 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 29,637 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.