Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VTLE. Mizuho cut their target price on Vital Energy from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Vital Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Vital Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Vital Energy from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Vital Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $26.44.

Vital Energy Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:VTLE opened at $15.77 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $610.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Vital Energy has a 12-month low of $12.30 and a 12-month high of $36.72. The business’s 50 day moving average is $16.43 and its 200 day moving average is $16.64.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $429.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $481.25 million. Vital Energy had a positive return on equity of 11.86% and a negative net margin of 38.52%.Vital Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vital Energy will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Vital Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 48.3% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,284,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,699,000 after buying an additional 1,070,289 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,162,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,895,000 after buying an additional 46,300 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 832,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,397,000 after purchasing an additional 157,325 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 673,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,833,000 after purchasing an additional 18,602 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 588,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,492,000 after purchasing an additional 83,788 shares during the period. 86.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.