Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM Stake Lifted by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its Viper Energy stake by 37.1% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 370,040 shares worth approximately $17.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 87.72% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 17 Buy ratings and two Hold ratings producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $57.07. Recent targets range from $52 to $59.
• Viper Energy matched quarterly EPS expectations at $0.76 and exceeded revenue estimates with $677 million, up 127.9% year over year. The company also declared a $0.29-per-share special dividend payable August 20 to shareholders of record August 13.

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Free Report) by 37.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 370,040 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 100,193 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.10% of Viper Energy worth $17,387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $54,000 after buying an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. acquired a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $64,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the period. Finally, Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Viper Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $97,000. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VNOM. TD lifted their target price on Viper Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Viper Energy from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Johnson Rice assumed coverage on Viper Energy in a research report on Monday. They set an "accumulate" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Viper Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.07.

Viper Energy Trading Down 0.0%

Viper Energy stock opened at $41.41 on Friday. Viper Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.10 and a 12 month high of $51.13. The company has a quick ratio of 6.17, a current ratio of 6.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $14.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 318.56 and a beta of 0.40. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $43.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.70.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. The business had revenue of $677.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.45 million. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 3.43% and a net margin of 2.89%.Viper Energy's quarterly revenue was up 127.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 266.0%. Viper Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 1,169.23%.

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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