Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Receives $30.75 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.75.

WES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Bank of America cut Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lisa A. Stewart acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $34.87 per share, with a total value of $87,175.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,555.10. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kenneth F. Owen bought 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 32,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,111,510.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lisa A. Stewart bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $34.87 per share, for a total transaction of $87,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,555.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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 bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 15.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,571,428 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,480,000 after purchasing an additional 622,108 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 97.2% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 311,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,494,000 after acquiring an additional 153,743 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 13.0% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 33,519,544 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $912,737,000 after acquiring an additional 3,855,558 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 2.3% in the third quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 178,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,850,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 25.5% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 93,344 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,542,000 after acquiring an additional 18,983 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 1.2 %

WES opened at $35.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 2.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.65 and a 200-day moving average of $29.13. Western Midstream Partners has a 52 week low of $24.89 and a 52 week high of $35.93.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $858.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $850.23 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 32.72% and a return on equity of 33.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is currently 88.46%.

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.