Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Price Target Raised to $68.00

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) had its target price hoisted by Piper Sandler from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on VNOM. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.71.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Viper Energy stock opened at $44.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -192.38 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. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.84 and a 200 day moving average of $39.40. Viper Energy has a 12 month low of $34.71 and a 12 month high of $48.00.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 2.62%. The company had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $415.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -660.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Viper Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Viper Energy by 28.0% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Viper Energy by 18.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $474,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957,417 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Viper Energy by 452.4% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 1,661,991 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $63,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viper Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,087,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

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.