Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Receives Average Recommendation of "Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Seventeen analysts rate Viper Energy an average "Buy" (15 Buy, 1 Hold, 1 Strong Buy) with a one‑year average price target of about $54.47.
• Recent quarter: Viper reported EPS of $0.31 (beats $0.27 consensus) and revenue of $435.0M (up 87.6% year‑over‑year, above estimates), and analysts project roughly $2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.
• Shareholder returns and ownership: Viper raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 ($1.52 annualized, ~3.3% yield), and roughly 87.7% of the stock is held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Buy" from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $54.4667.

VNOM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 3.7% during the third quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC now owns 7,841 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,348 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,354 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 37,746 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,443,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,498 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viper Energy Trading Down 3.9%

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $45.40 on Friday. Viper Energy has a 12 month low of $35.10 and a 12 month high of $49.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 3.72 and a quick ratio of 3.72. The company has a market capitalization of $16.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -197.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.50. The company's fifty day moving average price is $45.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.76.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. The firm had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a positive change from Viper Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently -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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