Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Short Interest Down 18.6% in March

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 13,204,484 shares, a decline of 18.6% from the February 26th total of 16,215,759 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,689,858 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 3.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viper Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Viper Energy by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC now owns 7,841 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Viper Energy by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,348 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 37,746 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,498 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Price Performance

VNOM opened at $47.85 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 3.72 and a quick ratio of 3.72. The firm has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a PE ratio of -208.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.48. Viper Energy has a 1 year low of $34.71 and a 1 year high of $49.08.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. Viper Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.38 dividend. 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 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is currently -660.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on VNOM. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.27.

Viper Energy Company 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.