JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 124,259 Shares of Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 40.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 428,168 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 124,259 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $16,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the second quarter valued at $33,973,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 199.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,142,619 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $43,568,000 after purchasing an additional 760,756 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in Viper Energy by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,243,136 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $85,337,000 after purchasing an additional 537,746 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Viper Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $20,399,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in Viper Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $12,183,000. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Stock Down 5.9%

Shares of NASDAQ VNOM opened at $44.78 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -194.69 and a beta of 0.48. Viper Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.71 and a 1 year high of $48.00.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -573.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Viper Energy from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.43.

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.