Western Midstream Partners, LP $WES Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 86.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 442,189 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 205,421 shares during the period. Western Midstream Partners comprises approximately 0.9% of Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $18,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 35,074,357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,385,437,000 after buying an additional 299,631 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 81,183 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 10.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 936,376 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 8,539,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $337,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,991 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 98.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,446,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $215,136,000 after acquiring an additional 2,696,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:WES opened at $47.59 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $44.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.68. 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 1-year low of $36.90 and a 1-year high of $48.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.68.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.47 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.8%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $46.00 price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.25.

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.