Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $49.89 According to Brokerages

Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $49.89.

WES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Mizuho upped their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:WES opened at $45.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.74. Western Midstream Partners has a 1-year low of $36.90 and a 1-year high of $50.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.98.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.08. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 29.44% and a return on equity of 33.13%. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Midstream Partners

In other news, Director Frederick Forthuber purchased 5,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $48.62 per share, for a total transaction of $249,906.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,906.80. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 37.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 924 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Adams Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 8.9% in the third quarter. Adams Asset Advisors LLC now owns 408,023 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $18,104,000 after buying an additional 33,200 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the third quarter worth $482,000. Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 163.7% during the third quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 17,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $761,000 after buying an additional 10,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 77.5% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,769 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 3,828 shares in the last quarter. 84.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Company Profile

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure in the United States. The company provides services that connect oil and natural gas production with processing facilities, pipelines, storage systems and end markets.

Its operations include the gathering, processing, treating, transportation and storage of natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil. Western Midstream also provides gathering and disposal services for produced water, a byproduct of oil and gas production.