Citigroup Inc. Increases Stock Position in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 198,093 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,303 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.07% of Viper Energy worth $7,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Viper Energy by 48.7% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,068 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Viper Energy by 503.3% during 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, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 82.5% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,181 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Viper Energy stock opened at $46.54 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.69 and a 200-day moving average of $38.97. The firm has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -202.34 and a beta of 0.48. Viper Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.71 and a 1-year high of $48.23.

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

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -573.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VNOM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.80.

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.