Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP Acquires 69,398 Shares of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE)

Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE - Free Report) by 62.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,641 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 69,398 shares during the quarter. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP owned 0.63% of Vital Energy worth $8,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VTLE. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Vital Energy during the second quarter valued at about $129,151,000. State Street Corp bought a new position in Vital Energy during the second quarter valued at about $72,076,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vital Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,542,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Vital Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $9,441,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Vital Energy by 45.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 627,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,796,000 after purchasing an additional 197,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on VTLE. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Vital Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $86.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $57.50.

Vital Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VTLE traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.48. 824,271 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 764,151. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 3.24. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $49.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.93. Vital Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.00 and a 1-year high of $62.87.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.44 by $0.11. Vital Energy had a net margin of 44.91% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm had revenue of $444.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.49 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 9.59 EPS for the current year.

Vital Energy Company Profile

Vital Energy, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin of West Texas, the United States. The company was formerly known as Laredo Petroleum, Inc and changed its name to Vital Energy, Inc in January 2023.