Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Given New $41.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) had its price target increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WES. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.13.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $39.35 on Wednesday. Western Midstream Partners has a 52-week low of $26.49 and a 52-week high of $42.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.61 and a 200-day moving average of $38.21. 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 (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WES. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 1st quarter worth about $82,000. American National Bank increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,190 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,012,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,418,703 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,435,000 after purchasing an additional 44,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, F&V Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $284,000. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by 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.