Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Stake in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 4,839.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,381 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,523 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $1,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viper Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,087,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,491,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $443,918,000 after buying an additional 1,144,863 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,550,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 7,413.0% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Ninepoint Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 700.0% in the 4th quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 1,200,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $46,356,000 after buying an additional 1,050,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Stock Up 0.9%

Viper Energy stock opened at $45.27 on Thursday. Viper Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.10 and a fifty-two week high of $51.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -141.46 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $44.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a current ratio of 6.17.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $511.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $499.81 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 2.77% and a positive return on equity of 2.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 108.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. Analysts predict that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is -475.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VNOM shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. TD cut their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viper Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.57.

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.