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

Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)’s share price gapped down prior to trading 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 traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Viper Energy Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 7.06 and a quick ratio of 7.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.95. The company has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $216.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.28 million. Viper Energy had a net margin of 25.63% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Viper Energy, Inc. will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is 44.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $215,825,000 after buying an additional 6,277,324 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Viper Energy by 20.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,246,219 shares in the last quarter. Scout Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $40,808,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 91.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,197,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 923,276 shares during the period. 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.