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

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Citigroup from $45.00 to $52.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the oil and gas producer’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.63% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VNOM. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Viper Energy from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.80.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

VNOM stock traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.97. 1,266,075 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,543,661. Viper Energy has a one year low of $34.71 and a one year high of $48.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -195.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 28.41 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.88 and a quick ratio of 1.88.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.79% and a negative net margin of 4.87%.The company had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $415.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 87.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VNOM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,699,141 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Viper Energy by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,916,557 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $498,967,000 after acquiring an additional 493,203 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Viper Energy by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,491,534 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $443,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144,863 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Viper Energy during the third quarter valued at about $240,215,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Viper Energy by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 5,711,539 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $220,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,838 shares in the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.