Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

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

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. 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. According to MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $36.75.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of WES opened at $38.72 on Tuesday. Western Midstream Partners has a 52 week low of $26.14 and a 52 week high of $42.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The company has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.65.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. The firm had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $904.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.04%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Midstream Partners

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the second quarter valued at approximately $694,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 1.9% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 22,508 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $397,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,244,000. Finally, Sfmg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.