Inspire Investing LLC Purchases Shares of 20,388 Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 20,388 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $810,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,260,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,880,000 after purchasing an additional 89,444 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 708,256 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,724,000 after acquiring an additional 157,700 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter worth about $248,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 270,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,900,000 after acquiring an additional 69,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Index Solutions LLC increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Index Solutions LLC now owns 250,866 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,340,000 after acquiring an additional 25,601 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $38.72 on Friday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a fifty-two week low of $26.14 and a fifty-two week high of $42.80. The company has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. The business’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 business earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 98.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WES has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of 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 note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Midstream Partners

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.