ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC Increases Stake in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC lifted its position in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,970,668 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 151,179 shares during the quarter. Viper Energy accounts for approximately 1.4% of ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.55% of Viper Energy worth $75,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Oaktree Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,906,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $646,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,699,141 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $474,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957,417 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 452.4% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 1,661,991 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $63,521,000 after buying an additional 1,361,130 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 7,413.0% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,109,824 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $42,417,000 after buying an additional 1,095,052 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viper Energy Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $44.25 on Friday. Viper Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.71 and a 52 week high of $48.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.40. The company has a quick ratio of 3.72, a current ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $15.82 billion, a PE ratio of -192.38 and a beta of 0.48.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 4.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. The company had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. Viper Energy’s revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -660.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VNOM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. TD Securities lifted their price target on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.71.

Viper Energy Profile

Viper Energy Partners LP is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and intends to acquire mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties. As a pass-through entity, Viper Energy Partners does not engage in drilling or production operations directly; instead, it generates revenues by holding overriding royalty interests, mineral fee interests and royalty fee interests. These interests entitle the partnership to receive a percentage of the proceeds from hydrocarbons produced and sold by third-party operators.

The partnership’s assets are concentrated in the Permian Basin, with a primary focus on the Delaware Basin region of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.