Western Midstream Partners, LP $WES Shares Bought by Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 8.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 401,812 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,820 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.10% of Western Midstream Partners worth $16,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 35,074,357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,385,437,000 after buying an additional 299,631 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,292,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $954,450,000 after acquiring an additional 81,183 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,562,213 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $377,707,000 after acquiring an additional 936,376 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 8,539,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $337,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,991 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 98.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,446,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $215,136,000 after acquiring an additional 2,696,439 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WES. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. US Capital Advisors raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Midstream Partners currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.25.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $46.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 52-week low of $36.90 and a 52-week high of $48.01. The company has a market capitalization of $18.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.48 and a 200 day moving average of $42.41.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Western Midstream Partners had a net margin of 29.98% and a return on equity of 33.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

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

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.