Geode Capital Management LLC Has $192.67 Million Stake in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management increased its Viper Energy stake by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, ending with 4,986,716 shares valued at about $192.7 million.
• Other major institutional investors also boosted holdings, and hedge funds/institutions now own 87.72% of Viper Energy’s stock, signaling strong Wall Street interest.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on VNOM: the stock has a “Buy” consensus rating with an average target price of $58.38, while the company also recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates.

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,986,716 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after buying an additional 258,082 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.39% of Viper Energy worth $192,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Oaktree Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Viper Energy in the third quarter valued at about $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $646,180,000 after buying an additional 3,699,141 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake 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 valued at $474,821,000 after buying an additional 1,957,417 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Viper Energy by 452.4% in the third 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 buying an additional 1,361,130 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Viper Energy by 7,413.0% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,109,824 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $42,417,000 after buying an additional 1,095,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VNOM shares. Zacks Research raised Viper Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Monday, April 20th. TD Securities raised their price target on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Viper Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $58.38.

Viper Energy Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $46.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -146.50 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 6.17 and a quick ratio of 6.17. The stock's 50-day moving average is $46.99 and its 200-day moving average is $42.97. Viper Energy Inc. has a one year low of $35.10 and a one year high of $51.13.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company had revenue of $511.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $499.82 million. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.64% and a negative net margin of 2.77%.Viper Energy's revenue was up 108.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Viper Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -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.

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