Choreo LLC Takes $384,000 Position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Choreo LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,458 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $141,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $483,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,260,436 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $36,880,000 after acquiring an additional 89,444 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 708,256 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $20,724,000 after acquiring an additional 157,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $248,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WES opened at $39.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $15.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.87. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a fifty-two week low of $25.71 and a fifty-two week high of $42.80.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. The business had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $904.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.80%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on WES. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.25.

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.