Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) Sees Strong Trading Volume

Shares of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 387,263 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the previous session’s volume of 654,796 shares.The stock last traded at $53.69 and had previously closed at $54.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VTLE. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Vital Energy from $39.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $122.00 price objective on shares of Vital Energy in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Vital Energy from $68.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 24th. TheStreet raised Vital Energy from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 8th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Vital Energy from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.00.

Vital Energy Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $997.41 million, a PE ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 3.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.69.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.07 by $0.28. Vital Energy had a return on equity of 24.29% and a net margin of 57.79%. The firm had revenue of $335.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $345.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 17.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vital Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VTLE. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Vital Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $919,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Vital Energy in the second quarter worth $258,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Energy in the second quarter worth $2,225,000. GTS Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Energy in the second quarter worth $746,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. purchased a new stake in Vital Energy in the second quarter worth $614,000. Institutional investors own 86.59% of the company’s stock.

About Vital Energy

Vital Energy, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin of West Texas, the United States. The company was formerly known as Laredo Petroleum, Inc and changed its name to Vital Energy, Inc in January 2023.