Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

WES has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.38.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WES traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $38.72. 867,441 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 790,981. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Western Midstream Partners has a 52 week low of $26.49 and a 52 week high of $42.80. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $38.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.28.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 4.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Western Midstream Partners during the 3rd quarter worth $251,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,711 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 231,872 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $8,871,000 after acquiring an additional 7,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 21,890 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502 shares in the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.