Brokerages Set Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Target Price at $38.13

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) has been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.13.

WES has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. 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, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $36.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. Western Midstream Partners has a 12-month low of $26.81 and a 12-month high of $42.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.46, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.48.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the first quarter valued at about $338,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after acquiring an additional 265,143 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 177.3% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 34,043 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 21,765 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 96.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,928,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $68,547,000 after purchasing an additional 944,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belfer Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 4.4% in the first quarter. Belfer Management LLC now owns 9,957 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.