Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 2,065 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $482,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in 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 worth $36,880,000 after purchasing an additional 89,444 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 157,700 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 4th quarter worth approximately $248,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 270,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,900,000 after acquiring an additional 69,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Index Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Index Solutions LLC now owns 250,866 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,340,000 after acquiring an additional 25,601 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:WES opened at $38.75 on Friday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12-month low of $26.14 and a 12-month high of $42.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.67.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.03%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WES has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.