Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Lowered to Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $40.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $42.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 3.55% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 20th. UBS Group lifted 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. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

NYSE:WES opened at $38.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. Western Midstream Partners has a twelve month low of $26.49 and a twelve month high of $42.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.31.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WES. Inscription Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 25.5% in the third quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 14,150 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 2,873 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,788 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,254,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 25.3% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 32,884 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,640 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 15.4% in the third quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 15,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 133,148 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,094,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Company Profile

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.