Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Given New $41.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Free Report) had its target price raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the pipeline company's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WES. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com cut Western Midstream Partners from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.13.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

NYSE WES traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $39.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 763,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,214,429. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.21. The stock has a market cap of $14.97 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. Western Midstream Partners has a 52 week low of $26.49 and a 52 week high of $42.80.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.89%. Western Midstream Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of Western Midstream Partners stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $82,000. American National Bank grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 34.5% during the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,190 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. True North Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,012,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,418,703 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $50,435,000 after purchasing an additional 44,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, F&V Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $284,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.94% of the company's stock.

About Western Midstream Partners

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.