Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Underweight”

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $40.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $42.00.

Several other research analysts have also commented on WES. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com raised Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 20th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $38.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.33. The firm has a market cap of $14.64 billion, a PE ratio of 10.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.87. Western Midstream Partners has a twelve month low of $26.49 and a twelve month high of $42.80.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. Analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

Insider Activity at Western Midstream Partners

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 96.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,928,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $68,547,000 after purchasing an additional 944,494 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 27.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 895,715 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after purchasing an additional 265,143 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 12,980,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $461,465,000 after purchasing an additional 259,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.1% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,315,472 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,330,000 after buying an additional 120,202 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

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.