JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) Stock Price

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) had its target price hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $46.00 to $47.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on WES. US Capital Advisors raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $51.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Mizuho raised their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.25.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $45.87 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34. Western Midstream Partners has a 12 month low of $36.90 and a 12 month high of $48.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.30. The stock has a market cap of $18.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.68.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 29.98% and a return on equity of 33.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This is a positive change from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.1%. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 121.57%.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WES. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 3rd quarter worth about $300,257,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $5,455,000. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,540,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,866,000 after buying an additional 270,000 shares during the period. SageGuard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,777,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,562,213 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $377,707,000 after acquiring an additional 936,376 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

About Western Midstream Partners

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: WES) is a midstream energy infrastructure company that owns, operates and develops an integrated network of crude oil, natural gas and produced water gathering, processing, transportation and storage assets in the United States. The partnership’s primary offerings include pipeline transportation, fractionation services, natural gas liquids (NGL) logistics and produced water handling. Through its fee-based and commodity-based contracts, Western Midstream provides its customers with essential services that support efficient energy production and distribution.

The company’s asset portfolio spans key onshore basins, including the Delaware Basin in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado, and the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado.