Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in Western Midstream Partners, LP $WES

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 134,085 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,296,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,292,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $954,450,000 after buying an additional 81,183 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,562,213 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $377,707,000 after buying an additional 936,376 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the third quarter valued at approximately $300,257,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,501,784 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $138,320,000 after buying an additional 165,726 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 106.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,005,252 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $118,707,000 after buying an additional 1,552,401 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of WES opened at $43.56 on Wednesday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12 month low of $36.90 and a 12 month high of $48.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced 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. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 29.98% and a return on equity of 33.89%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. This is a positive change from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.5%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WES shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $46.00 price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.75.

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.