Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $40.00 target price on the pipeline company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $42.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.5 %

Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $38.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Western Midstream Partners has a one year low of $26.49 and a one year high of $42.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.37. The company has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.83, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.87.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The company had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 98.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 25.5% during the third quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 14,150 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 2,873 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.7% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,788 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,254,000 after buying an additional 2,066 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 25.3% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 32,884 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,258,000 after buying an additional 6,640 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 15.4% during the third quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 15,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 2.4% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 133,148 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,094,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

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.