Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.80.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VNOM shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Viper Energy from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Viper Energy during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Viper Energy by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,068 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ:VNOM opened at $46.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -201.95, a P/E/G ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 3.72. Viper Energy has a 52 week low of $34.71 and a 52 week high of $48.23.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -573.91%.

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.