HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 14.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,599 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,974 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $3,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 23.5% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 6,228,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $238,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,597 shares in the last quarter. Fractal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 5.4% in the third 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. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 2.8% in the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,458,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $57,947,000 after buying an additional 39,827 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 120,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased 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 buying an additional 60,603 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WES shares. StockNews.com lowered Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Finally, US Capital Advisors upgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 0.2 %

WES stock opened at $38.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 52-week low of $26.81 and a 52-week high of $42.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 2.90.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.09). Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 42.99% and a return on equity of 46.02%. The company had revenue of $883.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $924.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

Western Midstream Partners 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.