Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

VNOM has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley upped 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 set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viper Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.38.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $43.70 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.34. The company has a quick ratio of 6.17, a current ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Viper Energy has a 12-month low of $35.10 and a 12-month high of $51.13. The firm has a market cap of $15.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.56 and a beta of 0.38.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $499.82 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 2.77% and a positive return on equity of 2.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 108.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -475.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VNOM. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new position in Viper Energy in the third quarter worth about $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Viper Energy by 28.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,906,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $646,180,000 after buying an additional 3,699,141 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Viper Energy by 18.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $474,821,000 after buying an additional 1,957,417 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Viper Energy by 452.4% in the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 1,661,991 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $63,521,000 after buying an additional 1,361,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Viper Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $52,087,000. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.