Eagle Global Advisors LLC Takes Position in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Key Points

• Eagle Global Advisors acquired a new position of 95,128 shares of Viper Energy in Q4, valued at about $3.675 million, and institutional investors now own roughly 87.72% of the company.
• Analysts' consensus rating is Buy with a $55 average price target, and several firms have recently upgraded the stock (Jefferies to Buy/$55, Wells Fargo overweight/$60, Mizuho outperform/$53).
• Viper beat Q4 estimates with $0.31 EPS vs. $0.27 and $435M revenue (up 87.6% year‑over‑year) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 ($1.52 annualized, a 3.2% yield), though the payout ratio is currently negative.

Eagle Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 95,128 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $3,675,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter worth about $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 503.3% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 68.3% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter worth about $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised Viper Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Viper Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Viper Energy Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ VNOM opened at $47.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -204.38, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.50. Viper Energy Inc. has a one year low of $35.10 and a one year high of $49.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 3.72 and a quick ratio of 3.72. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $45.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.91.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 4.87%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Viper Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy's payout ratio is currently -660.87%.

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.

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