Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 1,672.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 394,067 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 371,832 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned about 0.11% of Viper Energy worth $15,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter valued at $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Viper Energy by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $474,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957,417 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC grew its position in Viper Energy by 452.4% during the 3rd quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 1,661,991 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $63,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,087,000. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VNOM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Friday, May 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.38.

Viper Energy Price Performance

VNOM opened at $43.21 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.60. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $15.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -135.03 and a beta of 0.38. Viper Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.10 and a 52-week high of $51.13.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $499.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 108.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -475.00%.

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.