StockNews.com Upgrades Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group upped 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, September 18th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.38.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of WES stock opened at $38.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.87. 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 has a one year low of $26.49 and a one year high of $42.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.58 and its 200 day moving average is $38.28.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Midstream Partners

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of Western Midstream Partners stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WES. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $251,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 231,872 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,871,000 after buying an additional 7,111 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 21,890 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 1,502 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.