Wall Street Zen Downgrades Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) to Hold

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WES. US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.89.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of WES opened at $46.66 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.60. The firm has a market cap of $19.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. Western Midstream Partners has a 1-year low of $36.90 and a 1-year high of $50.07.

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

Insider Activity at Western Midstream Partners

In related news, Director Frederick Forthuber acquired 5,140 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $48.62 per share, with a total value of $249,906.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,906.80. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 35,074,357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,385,437,000 after purchasing an additional 299,631 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,562,213 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $377,707,000 after purchasing an additional 936,376 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,623,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $103,646,000 after purchasing an additional 391,000 shares during the period. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,676,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $69,038,000 after purchasing an additional 136,000 shares during the period. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,584,975 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $65,253,000 after buying an additional 93,543 shares in the last quarter. 84.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Western Midstream Partners

Western Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:WES) is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns, operates and develops midstream energy assets. The company provides gathering, processing, treating, compression, transportation and storage services for natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids and produced water.

Western Midstream’s infrastructure includes gathering systems, processing plants, pipelines, compressor stations, treatment facilities, storage assets and water-handling systems.