Viper Energy Inc. (VNOM) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 5th

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.38 per share by the oil and gas producer on Thursday, March 12th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This is a 15.2% increase from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33.

Viper Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years. Viper Energy has a payout ratio of 73.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Viper Energy to earn $1.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 69.5%.

Viper Energy Stock Up 1.2%

Viper Energy stock opened at $45.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 1.88. Viper Energy has a one year low of $34.71 and a one year high of $48.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -197.77, a P/E/G ratio of 28.41 and a beta of 0.51.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.79%. The firm had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $415.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. Viper Energy’s revenue was up 87.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VNOM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.86.

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.