Clearbridge Investments LLC Reduces Stock Position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 1.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,854,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 61,000 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $172,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. NBW Capital LLC increased its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 322,010 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,422,000 after acquiring an additional 64,370 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,521,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,967,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,260,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $36,880,000 after acquiring an additional 89,444 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 58,015 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 29,637 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WES shares. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.56.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of WES stock traded down $0.69 on Tuesday, hitting $42.06. 659,195 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,183,753. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a one year low of $25.69 and a one year high of $42.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.90.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $887.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $868.22 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.50% and a return on equity of 44.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.32%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

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.