Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Increases Holdings in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. boosted its position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 22.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,815 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,200 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $2,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 6,228,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,597 shares during the period. ING Groep NV lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 81.0% during 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. boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 12,980,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $461,465,000 after purchasing an additional 259,928 shares during the period. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.1% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 120,202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on WES shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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 cut their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $38.87 on Friday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 52-week low of $26.81 and a 52-week high of $42.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.65. The firm has a market cap of $14.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.88.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $883.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $924.83 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. Western Midstream Partners’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.29%.

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.