Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Invests $1.81 Million in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 45,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,812,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WES. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 96.0% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,928,179 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $68,547,000 after purchasing an additional 944,494 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 4,165,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $148,095,000 after purchasing an additional 895,715 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Western Midstream Partners by 174.3% in the 1st 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 period. Blackstone Inc. lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 12,980,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $461,465,000 after acquiring an additional 259,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 708,256 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,724,000 after acquiring an additional 157,700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $39.79 on Tuesday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12 month low of $25.71 and a 12 month high of $42.80. 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 has a market capitalization of $15.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.37 and a 200-day moving average of $37.50.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $905.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.94 million. Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 47.19% and a net margin of 44.01%. Western Midstream Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Midstream Partners news, major shareholder Petroleum Corp /De/ Occidental sold 19,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.75, for a total value of $697,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 165,681,578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,923,116,413.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WES. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Western Midstream Partners from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.25.

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.