Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Shares Down 5.8% – Here’s What Happened

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)’s stock price dropped 5.8% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $36.36 and last traded at $36.5430. 827,562 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 1,210,757 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VNOM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. TD Securities set a $54.00 target price on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.20.

Viper Energy Stock Down 4.7%

The firm has a market cap of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 23.18 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.02 and a 200-day moving average of $38.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 3.09% and a net margin of 20.62%.The company had revenue of $418.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $389.35 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 98.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 54.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Viper Energy by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,906,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $646,180,000 after acquiring an additional 3,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 18.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $474,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957,417 shares in the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter valued at $240,215,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 2.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,197,538 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $198,182,000 after purchasing an additional 148,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viper Energy by 6.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,802,730 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $145,021,000 after purchasing an additional 235,374 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Viper Energy

Viper Energy Partners LP is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and intends to acquire mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties. As a pass-through entity, Viper Energy Partners does not engage in drilling or production operations directly; instead, it generates revenues by holding overriding royalty interests, mineral fee interests and royalty fee interests. These interests entitle the partnership to receive a percentage of the proceeds from hydrocarbons produced and sold by third-party operators.

The partnership’s assets are concentrated in the Permian Basin, with a primary focus on the Delaware Basin region of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.