Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 4,408,972 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 66% from the previous session’s volume of 2,649,531 shares.The stock last traded at $45.8810 and had previously closed at $47.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Securities raised their price objective on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.43.

Viper Energy Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.11 and a 200 day moving average of $39.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a current ratio of 3.72. The firm has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -194.12 and a beta of 0.48.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 4.87%.The business’s revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is -573.91%.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Viper Energy by 48.7% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,068 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. 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.