Pacer Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,607 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $1,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American National Bank boosted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,190 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. boosted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 48,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,937,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Belfer Management LLC boosted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Belfer Management LLC now owns 9,957 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Group LLC boosted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 40.2% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 34,109 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,213,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Midstream Partners

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on WES. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $37.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $38.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.77. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 52-week low of $26.14 and a 52-week high of $42.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.87.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The firm had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.23%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

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.