Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $37.73, but opened at $36.81. Western Midstream Partners shares last traded at $36.83, with a volume of 145,774 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.13.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a market cap of $13.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 2.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.42.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.09. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 44.01% and a return on equity of 47.19%. The business had revenue of $905.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Western Midstream Partners’s quarterly revenue was up 22.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.54%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total transaction of $697,125,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 165,681,578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,923,116,413.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,967,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 417,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after purchasing an additional 265,143 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $516,000. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 30.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 103,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,127,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 10.1% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,315,472 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,330,000 after purchasing an additional 120,202 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.