Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Shares Gap Down to $45.13

Shares of Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $45.13, but opened at $43.66. Viper Energy shares last traded at $43.47, with a volume of 1,610,435 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VNOM. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Viper Energy from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Viper Energy from $44.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price on Viper Energy from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.17.

Viper Energy Stock Down 2.5 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 7.06 and a current ratio of 7.06. The company has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14 and a beta of 1.73.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $216.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.28 million. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 25.63%. The business’s revenue was up 34.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Viper Energy, Inc. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 1,045.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,877,786 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $215,825,000 after purchasing an additional 6,277,324 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Viper Energy by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,490,896 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $423,344,000 after buying an additional 2,246,219 shares during the last quarter. Scout Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $40,808,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,505,280 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $78,616,000 after buying an additional 1,197,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 16.8% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,410,968 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $246,566,000 after acquiring an additional 923,276 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

About Viper Energy

Viper Energy, Inc owns and acquires mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin, North America. Viper Energy Partners GP LLC operates as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Viper Energy Partners LP and changed its name to Viper Energy, Inc in November 2023.