Chickasaw Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,755,387 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 99,518 shares during the quarter. Western Midstream Partners accounts for approximately 10.5% of Chickasaw Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $259,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WES. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 6,228,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $238,300,000 after buying an additional 1,184,597 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 6,986.8% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 708,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,114,000 after purchasing an additional 698,683 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,785,105 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $68,298,000 after purchasing an additional 670,440 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 81.0% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 746,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,564,000 after purchasing an additional 334,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,556,000 after purchasing an additional 310,260 shares during the last quarter. 84.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WES has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.54. The stock had a trading volume of 547,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 974,427. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $38.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05. The firm has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.90. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12-month low of $27.49 and a 12-month high of $42.80.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.09). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 46.02% and a net margin of 42.99%. The company had revenue of $883.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $924.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

About Western Midstream Partners

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.