Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Upgraded to “Peer Perform” by Wolfe Research

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) was upgraded by analysts at Wolfe Research from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WES. Citigroup cut Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.75.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $34.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 2.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.01. Western Midstream Partners has a 12-month low of $24.89 and a 12-month high of $36.79.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.04). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 33.58% and a net margin of 32.72%. The company had revenue of $858.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $850.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Western Midstream Partners

In other news, Director Lisa A. Stewart bought 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $34.87 per share, with a total value of $87,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,071,555.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Western Midstream Partners news, Director Kenneth F. Owen bought 7,000 shares of Western Midstream Partners stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 32,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,111,510.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lisa A. Stewart bought 2,500 shares of Western Midstream Partners stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $34.87 per share, with a total value of $87,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,071,555.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 33,519,544 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $912,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,855,558 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,746,835 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $564,936,000 after acquiring an additional 2,520,712 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,280,595 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $183,770,000 after acquiring an additional 802,709 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,012,565 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $126,417,000 after acquiring an additional 623,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,571,428 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,480,000 after acquiring an additional 622,108 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.