Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WES. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:WES opened at $37.49 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.56, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.41. Western Midstream Partners has a 12 month low of $26.49 and a 12 month high of $42.80.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

Insider Activity at Western Midstream Partners

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners in the first quarter worth about $338,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in Western Midstream Partners by 1.6% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 162,128 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,555,000 after acquiring an additional 2,556 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners in the first quarter worth about $206,000. Retirement Group LLC raised its position in Western Midstream Partners by 40.2% in the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position 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 worth $14,835,000 after acquiring an additional 265,143 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

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.