Brokerages Set Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) PT at $30.75

Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.64.

WES has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research raised Western Midstream Partners from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th.

Insider Activity at Western Midstream Partners

In other Western Midstream Partners news, Director Kenneth F. Owen acquired 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $33.96 per share, with a total value of $237,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,111,510.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Western Midstream Partners news, Director Kenneth F. Owen acquired 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $33.96 per share, with a total value of $237,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,111,510.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lisa A. Stewart acquired 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $34.87 per share, for a total transaction of $87,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Western Midstream Partners in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Western Midstream Partners in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. American National Bank lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 34.5% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,190 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. bought a new position in Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $74,000. Institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of WES stock opened at $35.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 2.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.91 and its 200 day moving average is $30.21. Western Midstream Partners has a twelve month low of $24.89 and a twelve month high of $36.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $858.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $850.23 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 33.58% and a net margin of 32.72%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This is a boost from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.81%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.46%.

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.