Western Midstream Partners, LP $WES Shares Acquired by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,623,943 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 391,000 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $103,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $28,268,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 1,089,519 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $43,036,000 after buying an additional 103,801 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $2,245,000. State of Wyoming grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 68.2% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,266 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 2,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 157,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,209,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. 84.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WES shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.75.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.5%

WES opened at $44.17 on Tuesday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12 month low of $36.90 and a 12 month high of $48.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.44.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This is a positive change from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.4%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.57%.

Insider Transactions at Western Midstream Partners

In other Western Midstream Partners news, Director Robert G. Phillips purchased 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $40.19 per share, with a total value of $50,237.50. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 5,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,846.24. This represents a 30.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Midstream Partners Profile

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.