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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WES opened at $37.72 on Monday. Western Midstream Partners has a 1-year low of $26.49 and a 1-year high of $42.80. The company has a market capitalization of $14.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.87. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.40.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.28%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

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 that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 5.8% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Albert D Mason Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 48,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,937,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,053 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belfer Management LLC lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Belfer Management LLC now owns 9,957 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. 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.