Wall Street Zen Downgrades Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) to Hold

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

WES has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Monday, October 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.50.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $39.93 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.62 and a 200 day moving average of $38.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.76. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $33.60 and a fifty-two week high of $43.33.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.87. The business had revenue of $952.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $965.55 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 39.37% and a net margin of 35.18%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 19.2% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,777 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 258,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,600,000 after purchasing an additional 31,687 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 8,559 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 25.9% in the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,405 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,417,770 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,000,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608,609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.