Wall Street Zen Downgrades Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) to Sell

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on VNOM. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Viper Energy from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Viper Energy from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.20.

Viper Energy Stock Up 0.1%

VNOM stock opened at $36.57 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.94 and a 200 day moving average of $37.95. The firm has a market cap of $13.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 21.84 and a beta of 0.48. Viper Energy has a twelve month low of $34.71 and a twelve month high of $52.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $418.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.35 million. Viper Energy had a net margin of 20.62% and a return on equity of 3.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 98.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 4.3% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,801 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in Viper Energy by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC now owns 7,841 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Viper Energy by 16.7% during 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. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Viper Energy by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,068 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 37,746 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

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.