Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $48.63 and last traded at $48.4580, with a volume of 57680 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $48.12.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $46.00 target price on Western Midstream Partners and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.00.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 1.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $45.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.20. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 34.79% and a net margin of 29.44%.The business’s revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company 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 is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.6%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.98%.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WES. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 30,784 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 45,995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,540 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 15,453 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $610,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pasadena Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 5.2% during the first quarter. Pasadena Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 84.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Midstream Partners Company 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.