Western Midstream Partners Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:WES)

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 16,925 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,566% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,016 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lisa A. Stewart acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $34.87 per share, with a total value of $87,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,555.10. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lisa A. Stewart bought 2,500 shares of Western Midstream Partners stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $34.87 per share, with a total value of $87,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,071,555.10. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth F. Owen bought 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 32,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,111,510.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Midstream Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. NBW Capital LLC increased its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 322,010 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,422,000 after purchasing an additional 64,370 shares during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the 4th quarter worth $1,521,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 15.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,571,428 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,480,000 after acquiring an additional 622,108 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 97.2% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 311,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,494,000 after acquiring an additional 153,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 13.0% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 33,519,544 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $912,737,000 after acquiring an additional 3,855,558 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WES has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded Western Midstream Partners from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup cut Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.64.

Western Midstream Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WES opened at $35.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84 and a beta of 2.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.44. Western Midstream Partners has a 1-year low of $24.89 and a 1-year high of $36.79.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.04). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 33.58% and a net margin of 32.72%. The firm had revenue of $858.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $850.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Western Midstream Partners will post 3.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.875 per share. This is a boost from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Western Midstream Partners’s payout ratio is 134.62%.

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.