Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Viper Energy from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. TD Securities set a $54.00 target price on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.20.

Viper Energy Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $36.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Viper Energy has a 1-year low of $34.71 and a 1-year high of $52.03. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.96. The company has a market capitalization of $13.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 21.84 and a beta of 0.48.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 3.09% and a net margin of 20.62%.The firm had revenue of $418.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 98.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is presently 54.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VNOM. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Viper Energy during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Viper Energy by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,068 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Viper Energy by 503.3% in the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

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.