Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Short Interest Update

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,460,000 shares, a growth of 46.3% from the January 15th total of 5,100,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WES. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,809,161 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $876,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,362 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 8,064,089 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $309,903,000 after buying an additional 159,016 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 6,755,387 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,610,000 after purchasing an additional 99,518 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 23.5% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 6,228,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,300,000 after buying an additional 1,184,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 60.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,785,105 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $68,298,000 after purchasing an additional 670,440 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE WES traded up $0.07 on Friday, reaching $40.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,067,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,413,380. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 2.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.18 and its 200 day moving average is $39.09. Western Midstream Partners has a 52-week low of $28.07 and a 52-week high of $43.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.63%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on WES shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Company Profile

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.