Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Decreases Holdings in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services reduced its stake in Viper Energy by 17.6% in Q4, selling 244,408 shares and ending the period with 1,145,833 shares (about 0.32% of VNOM) valued at roughly $44.26 million.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive — the stock carries a MarketBeat consensus "Buy" with an average target of $54.47 versus the current price near $45, and several firms have recently raised targets or ratings.
• Viper beat quarterly expectations (EPS $0.31 vs $0.27) and reported revenue of $435M (+87.6% YoY), and it raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 (annualized $1.52, ~3.4% yield).

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,145,833 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 244,408 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.32% of Viper Energy worth $44,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Viper Energy in the third quarter worth $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 3,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position 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 buying an additional 1,957,417 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC increased its position 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 worth $63,521,000 after buying an additional 1,361,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position 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 worth $42,417,000 after buying an additional 1,095,052 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $54.47.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VNOM opened at $45.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a PE ratio of -195.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.50. Viper Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.10 and a fifty-two week high of $49.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a current ratio of 3.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.32 and a 200-day moving average of $40.63.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is an increase from Viper Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently -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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