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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on WES. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $36.75.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

WES opened at $39.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Western Midstream Partners has a 52-week low of $26.49 and a 52-week high of $42.80. The firm has a market cap of $15.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.63 and its 200-day moving average is $38.03.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $904.94 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.79%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.59%.

Insider Transactions at Western Midstream Partners

In other Western Midstream Partners 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 stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blackstone Inc. increased its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 12,980,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $461,465,000 after buying an additional 259,928 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 6,711,006 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $266,628,000 after purchasing an additional 37,259 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $148,095,000 after purchasing an additional 895,715 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $104,997,000 after purchasing an additional 77,942 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 96.0% in the first 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. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by 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.