Western Gas Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) was upgraded by stock analysts at TheStreet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.
In other news, Director James R. Crane sold 60,456 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.39, for a total value of $3,046,377.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 409,502 shares in the company, valued at $20,634,805.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Crane sold 36,915 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.41, for a total value of $1,860,885.15. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 494,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,909,799.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.
A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on WES. Credit Suisse Group AG reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Western Gas Partners, in a report on Thursday. Zacks Investment Research raised Western Gas Partners, from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group started coverage on Western Gas Partners, in a report on Friday, June 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Capital One Financial Corp. lowered Western Gas Partners, from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 4th. Finally, Drexel Hamilton reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Western Gas Partners, in a report on Tuesday, April 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $55.39.
Western Gas Partners, (NYSE:WES) traded up 1.59% during trading on Wednesday, hitting $51.06. The stock had a trading volume of 290,241 shares. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $49.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.65. The stock has a market cap of $6.67 billion and a PE ratio of 288.47. Western Gas Partners, has a 1-year low of $25.40 and a 1-year high of $60.77.
Western Gas Partners, (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $428.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $438.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Western Gas Partners, will post $1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 1st will be issued a $0.815 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 28th. This represents a $3.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.38%.
Western Gas Partners, LP is a master limited partnership (MLP) that acquires, owns, develops and operates midstream energy assets. The Company is engaged in the business of gathering, processing, compressing, treating and transporting natural gas, condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and crude oil for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (Anadarko), as well as third-party producers and customers.
