Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Price Target to $35.00

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $34.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered Western Midstream Partners from a buy rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research raised Western Midstream Partners from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com lowered Western Midstream Partners from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Saturday, May 18th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $31.55.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

NYSE:WES opened at $37.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.60. Western Midstream Partners has a 12-month low of $25.04 and a 12-month high of $38.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The pipeline company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.62. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 44.76% and a net margin of 42.50%. The company had revenue of $887.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $868.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.37%. This is an increase from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 98.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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. In related news, Director Lisa A. Stewart bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $34.87 per share, for a total transaction of $87,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,071,555.10. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth F. Owen bought 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 32,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,111,510.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 29.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 98,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,674,000 after acquiring an additional 22,380 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the third quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. American Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 14.3% during the third quarter. American Financial Group Inc. now owns 24,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% during the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 30,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $819,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. 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.