Oaktree Capital Management LP Takes Position in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,285,062 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $240,215,000. Viper Energy comprises 1.9% of Oaktree Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Oaktree Capital Management LP owned about 2.18% of Viper Energy as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VNOM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 28.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,906,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $646,180,000 after buying an additional 3,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $474,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957,417 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,197,538 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $198,182,000 after acquiring an additional 148,503 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Viper Energy by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,802,730 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $145,021,000 after acquiring an additional 235,374 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Viper Energy by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,687,541 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $102,476,000 after acquiring an additional 296,749 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.36. 280,373 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,243,922. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.37. The company has a market cap of $15.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -192.57 and a beta of 0.48. Viper Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.71 and a twelve month high of $48.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.72, a current ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is -660.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VNOM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.71.

Viper Energy Profile

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.