First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 147,774 Shares of Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 46.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 466,713 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 147,774 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $21,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 38.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 47,881 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,162,000 after buying an additional 13,218 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 264.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 240,799 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $10,872,000 after acquiring an additional 174,684 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 22.7% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 204,499 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,233,000 after acquiring an additional 37,847 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 30.7% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 12,785 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 3,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 6.5% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 23,028 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405 shares during the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of VNOM stock opened at $43.18 on Thursday. Viper Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.10 and a 12 month high of $51.13. The company has a market capitalization of $15.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -134.93 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.46. The company has a current ratio of 6.17, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $511.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $499.81 million. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.64% and a negative net margin of 2.77%.Viper Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 108.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VNOM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Friday, May 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. Roth Capital set a $52.00 price target on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.57.

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.