Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Takes $119,000 Position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 287.3% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter worth $74,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the second quarter worth $78,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 1.4 %

WES stock opened at $36.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 2.88. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12 month low of $26.81 and a 12 month high of $42.80. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). The company 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%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners 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.