Swiss National Bank Acquires 41,300 Shares of Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 375,116 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $17,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VNOM. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Viper Energy by 3.2% in the first quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 530,479 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $24,927,000 after purchasing an additional 16,253 shares in the last quarter. McAlvany Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Viper Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,264,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Viper Energy by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,223,344 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $57,485,000 after buying an additional 145,221 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in Viper Energy by 24.6% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 9,404 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 1,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 44,700 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,100,000 after buying an additional 4,900 shares during the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Zacks Research cut Viper Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.57.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

VNOM stock opened at $45.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a PE ratio of -141.06 and a beta of 0.40. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $35.10 and a one year high of $51.13. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $44.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.28.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.12. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 2.77% and a positive return on equity of 2.64%. The company had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $499.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 108.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is currently -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.