Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $49.37 and last traded at $49.2620, with a volume of 230420 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $48.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Monday, April 20th. TD Securities upped their target price on Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Viper Energy from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Viper Energy in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Viper Energy Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $17.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -214.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.30. 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 earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $435.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $415.51 million. Viper Energy had a positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 4.87%.The business’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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Viper Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is presently -660.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viper Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Oaktree Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $240,215,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 28.0% during the third 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 period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 18.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,423,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $474,821,000 after buying an additional 1,957,417 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 452.4% during the third quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 1,661,991 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $63,521,000 after buying an additional 1,361,130 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,087,000. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Viper Energy

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.