Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $55.00 price objective on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $54.47.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VNOM opened at $46.50 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -202.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 3.72, a current ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Viper Energy has a 52 week low of $35.10 and a 52 week high of $49.08.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $415.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -660.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viper Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VNOM. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $646,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,699,141 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $474,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957,417 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $63,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,130 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,087,000. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.