Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Cuts Holdings in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. trimmed its holdings in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,623,342 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 68,839 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 0.45% of Viper Energy worth $62,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,906,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $646,180,000 after acquiring an additional 3,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,916,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $498,967,000 after acquiring an additional 493,203 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $240,215,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,197,538 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $198,182,000 after acquiring an additional 148,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,986,716 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $192,672,000 after acquiring an additional 258,082 shares during the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM stock opened at $44.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a current ratio of 6.17. The company has a market capitalization of $15.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -138.68 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $46.71 and its 200 day moving average is $43.40. Viper Energy Inc. has a one year low of $35.10 and a one year high of $51.13.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $511.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $499.82 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 2.77% and a positive return on equity of 2.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 108.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -475.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VNOM shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Friday, May 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.38.

Viper Energy 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.