Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Reaches New 12-Month High at $35.39

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $35.39 and last traded at $35.37, with a volume of 222116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.14.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WES. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.75.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 2.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued 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). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 33.58% and a net margin of 32.72%. The company had revenue of $858.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $850.23 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Midstream Partners news, Director Kenneth F. Owen bought 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 32,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,111,510.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Kenneth F. Owen purchased 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 32,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,111,510.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lisa A. Stewart acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $34.87 per share, for a total transaction of $87,175.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,071,555.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Retirement Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 52.4% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. 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.