Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Makes New Investment in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Key Points

• Deprince Race & Zollo initiated a new 4Q position in Viper Energy (VNOM) of 116,302 shares, worth about $4.49 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Large institutions are adding exposure—Vanguard and Capital World materially increased stakes and Oaktree opened a new position worth about $240.2 million—leaving 87.72% of VNOM owned by institutional investors.
• VNOM carries a consensus "Buy" rating with an average price target of $54.47; the company recently beat quarterly revenue and EPS estimates and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 (annualized yield ~3.3%).

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 116,302 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $4,493,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Viper Energy by 28.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Viper Energy by 18.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $474,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957,417 shares in the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter valued at $240,215,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 2.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,197,538 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $198,182,000 after purchasing an additional 148,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 30.6% during the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,801,010 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $107,055,000 after purchasing an additional 656,333 shares in the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VNOM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Mizuho upped their price target on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $54.47.

Viper Energy Stock Up 1.1%

Viper Energy stock opened at $45.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.32 billion, a PE ratio of -198.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a current ratio of 3.72. Viper Energy Inc. has a one year low of $35.10 and a one year high of $49.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.26 and a 200 day moving average of $40.59.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 4.87%.Viper Energy's revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Viper Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -660.87%.

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.

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