Brokerages Set Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Target Price at $34.29

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.25.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WES shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th.

Insider Transactions at Western Midstream Partners

In related news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 96.0% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,928,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $68,547,000 after purchasing an additional 944,494 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 27.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 4,165,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $148,095,000 after buying an additional 895,715 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $14,835,000 after buying an additional 265,143 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 12,980,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $461,465,000 after buying an additional 259,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 708,256 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,724,000 after buying an additional 157,700 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $40.06 on Friday. Western Midstream Partners has a 52 week low of $25.71 and a 52 week high of $42.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.55. 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 firm has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.88.

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

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.74%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.59%.

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.