Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Short Interest Down 18.6% in March

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 13,204,484 shares, a drop of 18.6% from the February 26th total of 16,215,759 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,689,858 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC now owns 7,841 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,348 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Viper Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 37,746 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Viper Energy by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,498 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VNOM opened at $47.85 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -208.03, a PEG ratio of 1.20 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.99. Viper Energy has a 52-week low of $34.71 and a 52-week high of $49.08.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. The firm had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $415.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is a positive change from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -660.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VNOM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.27.

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.