Wall Street Zen Upgrades Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) to “Hold”

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VNOM. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Viper Energy from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. TD Securities increased their price objective on Viper Energy from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Viper Energy from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Viper Energy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.85.

Viper Energy Trading Up 2.8%

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $41.33 on Friday. Viper Energy has a fifty-two week low of $34.71 and a fifty-two week high of $56.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 7.24 and a current ratio of 7.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.58. The stock has a market cap of $11.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74 and a beta of 1.00.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 6.72% and a net margin of 24.65%. The business had revenue of $245.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $233.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VNOM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Viper Energy by 28.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,016,792 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $587,708,000 after buying an additional 2,921,832 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $95,505,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Viper Energy by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,996,351 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $451,336,000 after buying an additional 1,778,093 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in Viper Energy by 763.4% during the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,799,642 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $81,254,000 after buying an additional 1,591,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Viper Energy by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,953,910 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $539,719,000 after buying an additional 1,301,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

About Viper Energy

Viper Energy, Inc engages in the acquisition of oil and natural gas properties. It owns, acquires, and exploits oil and natural gas properties in North America. The company was founded on February 27, 2014 and is headquartered in Midland, TX.