Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $58.00 to $62.00. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Viper Energy traded as high as $56.12 and last traded at $56.03, with a volume of 389544 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $54.69.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Securities boosted their price target on Viper Energy from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Viper Energy from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Viper Energy by 81.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,308 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 20,396 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,481,119 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $326,184,000 after buying an additional 1,603,333 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Viper Energy in the first quarter valued at about $232,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Viper Energy by 8.8% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,016,927 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $39,111,000 after acquiring an additional 82,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 7.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.20.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Viper Energy had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 6.72%. The company had revenue of $209.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 28.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viper Energy, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.50%.

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.