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

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.13.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WES. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. StockNews.com raised Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

Insider Activity at Western Midstream Partners

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 1st quarter worth about $1,967,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $36,880,000 after acquiring an additional 89,444 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 29,637 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,550,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after purchasing an additional 265,143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE WES opened at $38.32 on Monday. Western Midstream Partners has a one year low of $25.69 and a one year high of $42.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.90.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Research analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.13%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend 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.