Stephens Inc. AR Boosts Stock Position in Western Midstream Partners, LP $WES

Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 215.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,361 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 89,707 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $5,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 33,824,487 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,385,451,000 after buying an additional 2,400,891 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,417,770 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,000,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608,609 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 1.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,658,988 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $354,672,000 after acquiring an additional 149,833 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 2.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,428,847 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $304,286,000 after acquiring an additional 155,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 1.1% in the second quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 6,794,472 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $262,946,000 after acquiring an additional 72,459 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WES. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of WES stock opened at $37.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $14.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.12. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 1 year low of $33.60 and a 1 year high of $43.33.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $942.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $954.17 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 37.70% and a net margin of 34.45%.Western Midstream Partners’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is presently 112.00%.

Western Midstream Partners Profile

Western Midstream Partners, LP, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a midstream energy company primarily in the United States. It is involved in gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas; gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and crude oil; and gathering and disposing produced water.