Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Shares Sold by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC cut its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES - Free Report) by 61.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 677,205 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 1,069,042 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.18% of Western Midstream Partners worth $26,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 42.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 108,367 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 32,119 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 6.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 996,018 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $38,108,000 after acquiring an additional 60,603 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 293.1% in the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 29,878 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,143,000 after acquiring an additional 22,277 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $15,556,000 after acquiring an additional 310,260 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 60.1% in 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 during the period. 84.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Western Midstream Partners from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:WES traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.35. The company had a trading volume of 713,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,413,380. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.16 and a 200 day moving average of $39.12. The company has a market cap of $15.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 2.88. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 1 year low of $27.87 and a 1 year high of $43.33.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $883.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $924.83 million. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.99% and a return on equity of 46.02%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Western Midstream Partners's dividend payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

Western Midstream Partners Company 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.