Slagle Financial LLC Makes New $1.50 Million Investment in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Key Points

• Slagle Financial opened a new position in Viper Energy, buying 38,891 shares in Q4 valued at about $1.50 million, and institutional investors now own roughly 87.7% of the stock.
• Wall Street is broadly bullish on VNOM — the consensus rating is Buy with a $54.47 average target and multiple firms (KeyCorp, Morgan Stanley, TD Securities, Mizuho) recently raising price targets.
• Viper recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.31 vs. $0.27) with revenue up 87.6% YoY to $435M, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 (annualized $1.52, ~3.3% yield).

Slagle Financial LLC bought a new position in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 38,891 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $1,502,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Viper Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Viper Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position in Viper Energy by 503.3% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Viper Energy by 68.3% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Viper Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $57,000. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VNOM has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viper Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viper Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $54.47.

Viper Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $46.50 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.67. The company has a market cap of $16.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -202.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.50. Viper Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.10 and a 1 year high of $49.08.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. Viper Energy's quarterly revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This is an increase from Viper Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy's dividend payout ratio 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VNOM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.