Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) Short Interest Up 46.3% in January

Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,460,000 shares, an increase of 46.3% from the January 15th total of 5,100,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Western Midstream Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in Western Midstream Partners by 555.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,180 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Midstream Partners in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Western Midstream Partners by 287.3% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in Western Midstream Partners during the fourth quarter valued at $58,000. 84.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WES has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut Western Midstream Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered Western Midstream Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Midstream Partners from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. US Capital Advisors upgraded Western Midstream Partners from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Midstream Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.88.

Western Midstream Partners Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, hitting $40.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,067,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,413,380. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 2.88. Western Midstream Partners has a 1 year low of $28.07 and a 1 year high of $43.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.18 and a 200-day moving average of $39.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Western Midstream Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. 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.