Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Stock

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $49.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 2.70% from the stock’s previous close.

VNOM has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. TD Securities increased their price target on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.27.

Viper Energy Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:VNOM traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.71. The company had a trading volume of 905,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,340,108. Viper Energy has a 1 year low of $34.71 and a 1 year high of $49.08. The company has a market cap of $17.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -207.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.68 and a 200 day moving average of $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 (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Viper Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Viper Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Viper Energy by 503.3% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Viper Energy by 68.3% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

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.