Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Short Interest Down 18.6% in March

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 13,204,484 shares, a decline of 18.6% from the February 26th total of 16,215,759 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,689,858 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 3.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Viper Energy in the third quarter worth about $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in Viper Energy by 503.3% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 68.3% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VNOM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.60.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM stock opened at $46.99 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $44.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.10. Viper Energy has a 52 week low of $34.71 and a 52 week high of $49.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a PE ratio of -204.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.48.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -660.87%.

Viper Energy Company 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.