NFC Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 128,808 Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

NFC Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 128,808 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $4,923,000. Viper Energy accounts for about 1.4% of NFC Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Viper Energy by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,906,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $646,180,000 after acquiring an additional 3,699,141 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Viper Energy by 2.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,197,538 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $198,182,000 after purchasing an additional 148,503 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Viper Energy by 6.6% during 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 buying an additional 235,374 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Viper Energy by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,687,541 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $102,476,000 after buying an additional 296,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,243,136 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $85,337,000 after acquiring an additional 537,746 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $44.65 on Thursday. Viper Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.71 and a 1 year high of $48.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -194.12 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a current ratio of 3.72.

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

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -573.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on VNOM. Citigroup boosted their target price on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. TD Securities increased their price target on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.43.

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.