Ascentis Independent Advisors Takes $902,000 Position in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Ascentis Independent Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 19,205 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $902,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $240,215,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 18.7% during 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 buying an additional 1,957,417 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Viper Energy by 452.4% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,361,130 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viper Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $52,087,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Viper Energy by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,491,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $443,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,863 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viper Energy Stock Up 2.8%

VNOM stock opened at $41.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a PE ratio of -130.06 and a beta of 0.40. Viper Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.10 and a 1 year high of $51.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.84. The company has a current ratio of 6.17, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $499.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 108.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -475.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial set a $58.00 price target on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup boosted 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Viper Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.15.

About Viper Energy

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.