Oaktree Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 6,285,062 Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,285,062 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $240,215,000. Viper Energy accounts for approximately 1.9% of Oaktree Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position in Viper Energy by 503.3% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 68.3% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ VNOM traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 280,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,243,922. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.73 and a 200 day moving average of $39.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.86 billion, a PE ratio of -192.57 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 3.72 and a quick ratio of 3.72. Viper Energy Inc. has a one year low of $34.71 and a one year high of $48.00.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $435.00 million during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.04 EPS. Analysts expect that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is currently -660.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.71.

About Viper Energy

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.