US Capital Advisors Upgrades Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) to Moderate Buy

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

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $39.65 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.72. The company has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Western Midstream Partners has a 1 year low of $26.81 and a 1 year high of $42.80.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $883.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.83 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 23.5% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 6,228,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,597 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 6,986.8% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 708,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $27,114,000 after purchasing an additional 698,683 shares during the period. ING Groep NV increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 81.0% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 746,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,564,000 after purchasing an additional 334,187 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $15,556,000 after purchasing an additional 310,260 shares during the period. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 10.1% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,315,472 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,330,000 after purchasing an additional 120,202 shares during the period. 42.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Company Profile

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.