Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Stock

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $49.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 2.40% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VNOM. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.27.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM stock opened at $47.85 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.98. The company has a market cap of $17.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -208.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.48. Viper Energy has a 12-month low of $34.71 and a 12-month high of $49.08.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 4.87%.The firm had revenue of $435.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 503.3% during the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Viper Energy by 68.3% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

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.