Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 12,102 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 30.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,006 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 12,102 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Western Midstream Partners were worth $1,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 42.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 108,367 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 32,119 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 6.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 996,018 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $38,108,000 after buying an additional 60,603 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in Western Midstream Partners by 293.1% during the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 29,878 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after buying an additional 22,277 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 322.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 406,587 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $15,556,000 after acquiring an additional 310,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 worth $68,298,000 after acquiring an additional 670,440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, US Capital Advisors raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $41.36 on Thursday. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 12-month low of $29.07 and a 12-month high of $43.33. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05.

Western Midstream Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.46%. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.