US Capital Advisors Upgrades Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) to “Strong-Buy”

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) was upgraded by stock analysts at US Capital Advisors from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

WES has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.75.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $42.80 on Friday. Western Midstream Partners has a 1 year low of $36.90 and a 1 year high of $48.01. The firm has a market cap of $16.85 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.21.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.11. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 29.98% and a return on equity of 33.89%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Midstream Partners

In other news, Director Robert G. Phillips bought 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $40.19 per share, with a total value of $50,237.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 5,296 shares in the company, valued at $212,846.24. This represents a 30.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the third quarter worth $300,257,000. Texas Yale Capital Corp. increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.8% in the third quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 575,809 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,624,000 after buying an additional 36,438 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 18.9% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 186,853 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,341,000 after buying an additional 29,754 shares during the period. SageGuard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 4th quarter valued at $1,777,000. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,158,000. 84.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Company Profile

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) is a midstream energy infrastructure company that owns, operates and develops an integrated network of crude oil, natural gas and produced water gathering, processing, transportation and storage assets in the United States. The partnership’s primary offerings include pipeline transportation, fractionation services, natural gas liquids (NGL) logistics and produced water handling. Through its fee-based and commodity-based contracts, Western Midstream provides its customers with essential services that support efficient energy production and distribution.

The company’s asset portfolio spans key onshore basins, including the Delaware Basin in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado, and the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado.