Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) was downgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $42.00 target price on the pipeline company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.84% from the stock’s previous close.

WES has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.25.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE WES opened at $40.06 on Monday. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $25.71 and a fifty-two week high of $42.80. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.55. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.88.

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 business had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions 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 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 sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,967,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 89,444 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,550,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $14,835,000 after purchasing an additional 265,143 shares during the period. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,418,703 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,435,000 after purchasing an additional 44,176 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.