Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on VNOM. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. 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 note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.43.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

VNOM stock opened at $44.14 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $41.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.27. The company has a market capitalization of $15.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -191.90 and a beta of 0.48. Viper Energy has a 1-year low of $34.71 and a 1-year high of $48.00.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 87.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Viper Energy by 1,672.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 394,067 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $15,223,000 after buying an additional 371,832 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in Viper Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $1,398,000. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Viper Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $97,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 5.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 10,886.7% during the fourth quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 8,240 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 8,165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

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.