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

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.3846.

VNOM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 31.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. BankChampaign National Association bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the first quarter worth $666,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew 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 purchasing an additional 154,032 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 137.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 172,725 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $8,117,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the first quarter worth $414,000. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VNOM opened at $43.70 on Friday. Viper Energy has a 52-week low of $35.10 and a 52-week high of $51.13. The company has a market capitalization of $15.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -136.56 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a current ratio of 6.17.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $499.82 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 2.77% and a positive return on equity of 2.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 108.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is presently -475.00%.

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.