Encompass Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,348,366 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $52,087,000. Viper Energy accounts for approximately 2.1% of Encompass Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Viper Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,916,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $498,967,000 after buying an additional 493,203 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new position in Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $240,215,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in Viper Energy by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 5,711,539 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $220,637,000 after buying an additional 1,024,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Viper Energy by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,197,538 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $198,182,000 after buying an additional 148,503 shares during the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viper Energy Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:VNOM opened at $43.36 on Thursday. Viper Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.10 and a 12-month high of $51.13. The company has a quick ratio of 6.17, a current ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -135.50 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.55.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.12. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.64% and a negative net margin of 2.77%.The business had revenue of $511.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $499.82 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 108.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is currently -475.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Viper Energy from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.38.

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.