Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Shares Acquired by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 6,986.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 708,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 698,683 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $27,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 996,018 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $38,108,000 after buying an additional 60,603 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 293.1% in the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 29,878 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,143,000 after acquiring an additional 22,277 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,556,000 after acquiring an additional 310,260 shares during the period. Fractal Investments LLC grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 1,465,706 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $56,078,000 after purchasing an additional 75,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter valued at about $516,000. 84.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WES shares. StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. US Capital Advisors raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 0.3 %

WES opened at $40.24 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 2.90. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a fifty-two week low of $26.81 and a fifty-two week high of $42.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $883.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $924.83 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.99% and a return on equity of 46.02%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 89.29%.

Western Midstream Partners 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.