Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM Shares Sold by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lowered its position in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 28.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 35,000 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $4,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 68.3% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the fourth quarter worth $64,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 256.7% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on VNOM. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Viper Energy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Viper Energy from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viper Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.15.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.03. 947,927 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,924,724. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -131.34 and a beta of 0.40. Viper Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.10 and a 12-month high of $51.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a current ratio of 6.17.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $499.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 108.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is -475.00%.

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.