First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Takes Position in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 15,140 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $711,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Viper Energy by 4.0% during the fourth 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. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,491,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $443,918,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144,863 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 5,711,539 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $220,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,838 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 148,503 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 5.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 258,082 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VNOM shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Viper Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Roth Capital set a $52.00 price objective on Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.57.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM stock opened at $45.14 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.27. The firm has a market cap of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -141.06 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 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.12. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 2.77% and a positive return on equity of 2.64%. The firm had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $499.81 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Viper Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 108.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -475.00%.

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.