Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $37.73, but opened at $36.81. Western Midstream Partners shares last traded at $36.83, with a volume of 145,774 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WES. Bank of America started 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 target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 2.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $13.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.40. 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 (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.52%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 90.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of Western Midstream Partners stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.8% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Albert D Mason Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.7% in the second quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 48,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,937,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,053 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Belfer Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Belfer Management LLC now owns 9,957 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

About Western Midstream Partners

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.