Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM Shares Sold by Baird Financial Group Inc.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 16.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 492,281 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 96,973 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $20,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Viper Energy by 0.6% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 52,276 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,217,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the second quarter worth about $1,675,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Viper Energy by 4,352.6% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,668,090 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $409,927,000 after acquiring an additional 9,450,957 shares during the last quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $7,347,000. Finally, Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Viper Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 141,567 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,002,000 after buying an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on VNOM. Wall Street Zen downgraded Viper Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Viper Energy from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 20th. Seaport Research Partners assumed coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Johnson Rice assumed coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. They set an “accumulate” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.93.

Viper Energy Stock Down 0.3%

VNOM opened at $44.71 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.60 and a 200-day moving average of $45.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 343.95 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 6.37, a quick ratio of 6.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Viper Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.10 and a 1-year high of $51.13.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. The firm had revenue of $677.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.45 million. Viper Energy had a net margin of 2.89% and a return on equity of 3.43%. The business’s revenue was up 127.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 281.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,169.23%.

Key Viper Energy News

Here are the key news stories impacting Viper Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks raised multiple earnings forecasts. Estimates increased for Q3 2026 EPS to $0.51 from $0.48, Q4 2026 EPS to $0.55 from $0.43, and full-year 2026 EPS to $2.37 from $2.22. Zacks also lifted Q1 2027 EPS to $0.64 from $0.55, FY2027 EPS to $2.29 from $2.22, Q2 2028 EPS to $0.57 from $0.54, and FY2028 EPS to $2.34 from $2.26. The revisions suggest analysts see somewhat better near- to long-term earnings potential for the oil and gas producer. Viper Energy analyst estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: The rating remains “Hold.” Despite the higher forecasts, Zacks did not upgrade Viper Energy, and the current-year consensus EPS estimate remains $2.73. This may limit the immediate bullish impact of the revisions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no actionable change. Reported short interest was zero shares as of September 10, versus zero previously, with a 0.0-day short-interest ratio. However, the reported percentage change was listed as “NaN,” indicating a likely data-quality issue rather than a meaningful shift in investor positioning.

Viper Energy Profile

Viper Energy, Inc (NASDAQ:VNOM) is a mineral and royalty company focused on owning interests in oil and natural gas properties. Rather than drilling and operating wells directly, the company leases its mineral and royalty interests to exploration and production companies and receives a share of the revenue generated from the resulting production.

Viper’s asset portfolio is concentrated in the Permian Basin, including the Midland and Delaware sub-basins in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.