Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Stock Dropped to “Hold” by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning,Zacks reports.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD increased their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Viper Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.41.

Viper Energy Price Performance

VNOM stock opened at $40.19 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.42. Viper Energy has a 12-month low of $35.10 and a 12-month high of $51.13. The company has a current ratio of 5.92, a quick ratio of 5.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $14.44 billion, a PE ratio of 29.34 and a beta of 0.49.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $661.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $625.18 million. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 4.24% and a net margin of 12.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 58.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Viper Energy will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is 110.95%.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Viper Energy by 13.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 145,221 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its position in Viper Energy by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,355,126 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,056,000 after buying an additional 109,502 shares during the last quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 266,703 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the first quarter valued at about $37,464,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 24.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

About Viper Energy

Viper Energy, Inc. owns and acquires mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties. Rather than serving primarily as a drilling operator, the company earns revenue from production on acreage where other companies conduct exploration and development. Its interests are concentrated in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, including the Midland and Delaware sub-basins. Viper’s business is tied to activity by the operators that develop the underlying properties.