Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.9333.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VNOM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Viper Energy in a research note on Friday, May 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Viper Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners started coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 24.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 795,347 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $37,373,000 after acquiring an additional 154,032 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Viper Energy by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 370,040 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $17,387,000 after purchasing an additional 100,193 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,550,000. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 375,116 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $17,627,000 after purchasing an additional 41,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Viper Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,783,000. 87.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viper Energy Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Viper Energy stock opened at $42.27 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 6.37, a quick ratio of 6.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Viper Energy has a twelve month low of $35.10 and a twelve month high of $51.13. The stock has a market cap of $15.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 325.18 and a beta of 0.39.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.76. The company had revenue of $677.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.45 million. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 3.43% and a net margin of 2.89%.The firm’s revenue was up 127.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a yield of 281.0%. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is currently 1,169.23%.

Viper Energy Company Profile

Viper Energy, Inc (NASDAQ:VNOM) is a mineral and royalty company focused on owning interests in oil and natural gas properties. Rather than drilling and operating wells directly, the company leases its mineral and royalty interests to exploration and production companies and receives a share of the revenue generated from the resulting production.

Viper’s asset portfolio is concentrated in the Permian Basin, including the Midland and Delaware sub-basins in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.