Howard Financial Services LTD. Purchases Shares of 10,000 Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Howard Financial Services LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 10,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 42.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 108,367 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 32,119 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Western Midstream Partners by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 996,018 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $38,108,000 after purchasing an additional 60,603 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 293.1% in the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 29,878 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,143,000 after buying an additional 22,277 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $15,556,000 after buying an additional 310,260 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 60.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,785,105 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $68,298,000 after acquiring an additional 670,440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WES has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, US Capital Advisors upgraded Western Midstream Partners from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WES traded up $0.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,148,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 907,414. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12 month low of $27.49 and a 12 month high of $42.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.14 and a 200-day moving average of $39.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.90.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.09). Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.99% and a return on equity of 46.02%. The company had revenue of $883.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $924.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

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.