Moors & Cabot Inc. Buys 16,398 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP $WES

Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 209.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,226 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,398 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WES. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,525 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,878 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 23,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $891,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 39.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 25,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 7,032 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,172,000. 84.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $46.00 price target on Western Midstream Partners and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.75.

Insider Activity

In other Western Midstream Partners news, Director Robert G. Phillips acquired 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $40.19 per share, with a total value of $50,237.50. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 5,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $212,846.24. This trade represents a 30.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $42.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 52 week low of $36.90 and a 52 week high of $48.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.63 and a 200-day moving average of $41.21.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 33.89% and a net margin of 29.98%.Western Midstream Partners’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.7%. This is a positive change from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.57%.

About Western Midstream Partners

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) is a midstream energy infrastructure company that owns, operates and develops an integrated network of crude oil, natural gas and produced water gathering, processing, transportation and storage assets in the United States. The partnership’s primary offerings include pipeline transportation, fractionation services, natural gas liquids (NGL) logistics and produced water handling. Through its fee-based and commodity-based contracts, Western Midstream provides its customers with essential services that support efficient energy production and distribution.

The company’s asset portfolio spans key onshore basins, including the Delaware Basin in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado, and the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado.