Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Research Coverage Started at Truist Financial

Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $54.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on VNOM. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen raised Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.93.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Viper Energy stock opened at $47.82 on Tuesday. Viper Energy has a 12 month low of $34.71 and a 12 month high of $49.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -207.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.90.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. The company had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $415.51 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. Viper Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -660.87%.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Viper Energy by 28.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,906,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $646,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,699,141 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Viper Energy by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,916,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $498,967,000 after buying an additional 493,203 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Viper Energy by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,491,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $443,918,000 after buying an additional 1,144,863 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $240,215,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 5,711,539 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $220,637,000 after buying an additional 1,024,838 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Company Profile

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.