Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $42.93 and last traded at $42.72, with a volume of 452634 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.51.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on WES. Bank of America initiated coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Monday, December 9th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 2.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $16.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 2.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.08.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $883.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $924.83 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WES. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 6,228,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,597 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6,986.8% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 708,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $27,114,000 after acquiring an additional 698,683 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 60.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,785,105 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $68,298,000 after acquiring an additional 670,440 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 81.0% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 746,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $28,564,000 after purchasing an additional 334,187 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,556,000 after purchasing an additional 310,260 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

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.