Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Stock Rating Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on VNOM. Zacks Research raised shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Scotiabank started coverage on Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $56.56.

Viper Energy Trading Up 1.8%

VNOM opened at $47.68 on Friday. Viper Energy has a one year low of $35.10 and a one year high of $51.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.13 billion, a PE ratio of 366.80 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $43.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 6.37 and a current ratio of 6.37.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. The company had revenue of $677.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.45 million. Viper Energy had a net margin of 2.89% and a return on equity of 3.43%. Viper Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 127.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viper Energy will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 8.2% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,231,728 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $57,879,000 after buying an additional 93,498 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Viper Energy by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,223,344 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $57,485,000 after acquiring an additional 145,221 shares during the period. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Viper Energy by 36.9% in the 1st quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 989,318 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $46,488,000 after acquiring an additional 266,703 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Viper Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,464,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Viper Energy by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 795,347 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $37,373,000 after acquiring an additional 154,032 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

About Viper Energy

Viper Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: VNOM) owns mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties, primarily in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. The company’s interests are concentrated in the Midland and Delaware basins, two of the most active producing regions in the United States.

Viper generally does not operate wells or directly conduct drilling and completion activities. Instead, it leases its mineral interests to exploration and production companies and receives royalty, overriding royalty and other mineral-related payments from the sale of hydrocarbons produced on those properties.