Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Short Interest Down 19.5% in March

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 10,627,731 shares, a decrease of 19.5% from the March 15th total of 13,204,484 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,589,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Viper Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.47.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM stock traded down $2.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $44.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,273,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,108,405. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.08 billion, a PE ratio of -196.09, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.50. Viper Energy has a twelve month low of $35.10 and a twelve month high of $49.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $45.50 and its 200 day moving average is $40.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 3.72 and a quick ratio of 3.72.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $435.00 million during 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%.The company’s revenue was up 87.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -660.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viper Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in Viper Energy in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Viper Energy in the third quarter valued at $38,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Viper Energy by 503.3% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Viper Energy by 68.3% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 568 shares during the period. 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.