Berkley W R Corp Acquires 379,807 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP $WES

Berkley W R Corp increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 42.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,266,970 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 379,807 shares during the quarter. Western Midstream Partners accounts for 2.8% of Berkley W R Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Berkley W R Corp’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $52,161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WES. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Midstream Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,455,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Western Midstream Partners by 10.9% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,540,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $60,866,000 after purchasing an additional 270,000 shares in the last quarter. SageGuard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,777,000. Finally, Militia Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,244,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Western Midstream Partners from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. US Capital Advisors raised Western Midstream Partners from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $51.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.25.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of WES stock opened at $47.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.68. 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 fifty-two week low of $36.90 and a fifty-two week high of $48.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $44.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.70.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 33.89% and a net margin of 29.98%.The firm’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is presently 121.57%.

Western Midstream Partners Profile

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.