JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Stake in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 428,168 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 124,259 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $16,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $608,000. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Viper Energy by 190.4% in the third quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 59,960 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 39,315 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Viper Energy by 26.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,739 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,323,000 after buying an additional 77,519 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Viper Energy by 58.7% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 198,093 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $7,571,000 after buying an additional 73,303 shares during the period. Finally, Mountain Lake Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter valued at about $9,853,000. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Price Performance

VNOM stock opened at $47.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -207.90, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.90. The company has a current ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Viper Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.71 and a 12-month high of $49.08.

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

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on VNOM shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.93.

Viper Energy 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.