Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 614 Shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. trimmed its holdings in Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 8.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,940 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 614 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Viper Energy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,094,960 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $495,360,000 after acquiring an additional 239,404 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its position in Viper Energy by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 3,964,130 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $194,520,000 after acquiring an additional 310,890 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Viper Energy by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,309,425 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $113,324,000 after acquiring an additional 389,473 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Viper Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $95,505,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Viper Energy by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,733,745 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $85,102,000 after acquiring an additional 35,084 shares in the last quarter. 87.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on VNOM shares. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.00.

Viper Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:VNOM opened at $38.22 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 1.00. Viper Energy Inc. has a one year low of $34.71 and a one year high of $56.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 8.70 and a quick ratio of 8.70.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $245.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $233.99 million. Viper Energy had a net margin of 43.43% and a return on equity of 5.41%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is currently 31.58%.

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.