Citigroup Inc. Acquires 310,260 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 322.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 310,260 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Western Midstream Partners worth $15,556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 16.1% during the third quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.8% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,711 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Albert D Mason Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.7% during the second quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 48,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,937,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.2% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,053 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 1.9% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 22,508 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WES opened at $39.65 on Thursday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 1-year low of $26.81 and a 1-year high of $42.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $38.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.72. The company has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.88, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.88.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.99% and a return on equity of 46.02%. The company had revenue of $883.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $924.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.83%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WES. UBS Group dropped their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America began coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.88.

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.