Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES - Free Report) by 88.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,961 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 26,725 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $2,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at $119,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,053 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Fractal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fractal Investments LLC now owns 1,465,706 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $56,078,000 after buying an additional 75,145 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 287.3% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Finally, Americana Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.7% in the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 142,882 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,467,000 after buying an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WES. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group cut their target price 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

WES stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.20. The stock had a trading volume of 2,520,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,496,285. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a twelve month low of $26.81 and a twelve month high of $42.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $38.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.57. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $14.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.74, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.88.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $883.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.83 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. The business's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners's dividend payout ratio is currently 89.29%.

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.