Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Receives “Buy” Rating from Stifel Nicolaus

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $55.00 price objective on the pipeline company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target indicates a potential upside of 11.59% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on WES. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.25.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.3%

WES opened at $49.29 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.25. Western Midstream Partners has a fifty-two week low of $36.90 and a fifty-two week high of $50.07. The company has a market cap of $20.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 29.44% and a return on equity of 33.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Midstream Partners news, Director Frederick Forthuber bought 5,140 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $48.62 per share, with a total value of $249,906.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 5,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,906.80. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 45,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,540 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Pasadena Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Pasadena Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Novem Group lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 1.9% in the second quarter. Novem Group now owns 15,843 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,269 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Company Profile

Western Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:WES) is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops midstream energy assets. The company provides gathering, processing, treating, compression, transportation and storage services for natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids and produced water.

Western Midstream’s infrastructure includes gathering systems, processing plants, pipelines, compressor stations, treatment facilities, storage assets and water-handling systems.