Highland Capital Management LLC Purchases 2,000 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Highland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,967,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after purchasing an additional 265,143 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 103,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,127,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,315,472 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,330,000 after purchasing an additional 120,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 113.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,722 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 16,304 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $38.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 1-year low of $26.49 and a 1-year high of $42.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.87. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.63 and its 200 day moving average is $38.37.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.13 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WES. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 20th. 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 report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.