Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard trimmed its stake in Viper Energy by 1.4% in Q4, selling 229,587 shares and leaving it with 16,677,259 shares (about 4.64% of the company) valued at ~$644.2 million, while institutional investors own roughly 87.7% of the stock.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: the stock has an average analyst rating of Buy with an average price target of $55.00 and multiple firms recently raising their targets or coverage.
• Viper Energy beat Q4 estimates (EPS $0.31 vs $0.27 consensus) and reported revenue of $435M (up 87.6% year‑over‑year), and it raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 ($1.52 annualized, ~3.0% yield).

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,677,259 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 229,587 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 4.64% of Viper Energy worth $644,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 503.3% in the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Viper Energy by 68.3% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $57,000. 87.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VNOM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective 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. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $55.00.

Viper Energy Price Performance

VNOM opened at $49.90 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.84 billion, a PE ratio of -216.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.42. 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 1 year low of $35.10 and a 1 year high of $49.95. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $46.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.42.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company 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 is an increase from Viper Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy's payout ratio is -660.87%.

About Viper Energy

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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