Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Price Target Raised to $49.00

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $49.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

VNOM has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.27.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of VNOM stock opened at $47.85 on Friday. Viper Energy has a twelve month low of $34.71 and a twelve month high of $49.08. The stock has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -208.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.90 and a 200 day moving average of $39.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 4.87%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.38 dividend. 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 3.2%. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is -660.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Viper Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $608,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Viper Energy by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 303,909 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $11,588,000 after buying an additional 39,867 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Viper Energy by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 198,093 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $7,571,000 after buying an additional 73,303 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 26.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,739 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,323,000 after acquiring an additional 77,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 190.4% during the third quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 59,960 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 39,315 shares during the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.