Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.75.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley lowered Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $39.42 on Tuesday. Western Midstream Partners has a twelve month low of $26.49 and a twelve month high of $42.80. 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 $38.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.19. The firm has a market cap of $15.00 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.87.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.88%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 98.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WES. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the first quarter worth $1,967,000. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,550,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 3.2% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,418,703 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,435,000 after buying an additional 44,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the second quarter worth about $516,000. 42.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.