Blair William & Co. IL Acquires 184,018 Shares of Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 789.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 207,333 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 184,018 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.07% of Viper Energy worth $7,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter worth $38,220,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter worth $35,416,000. Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new position in Viper Energy during the second quarter valued at $33,973,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Viper Energy by 199.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,142,619 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $43,568,000 after acquiring an additional 760,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viper Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.43.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Viper Energy stock opened at $44.14 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.27. Viper Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.71 and a twelve month high of $48.00. 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 market cap of $15.78 billion, a PE ratio of -191.90 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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $415.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.04 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid 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 is Thursday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is -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.