Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $27.00. The stock had previously closed at $30.08, but opened at $29.23. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Vital Energy shares last traded at $28.71, with a volume of 62,554 shares trading hands.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on VTLE. Mizuho decreased their price target on Vital Energy from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Vital Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Vital Energy from $48.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Vital Energy from $66.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Insider Transactions at Vital Energy

In other news, CFO Bryan Lemmerman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $285,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 77,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,212,306.64. This represents a 11.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Mark David Denny sold 5,145 shares of Vital Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total value of $155,481.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $796,538.76. This represents a 16.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,168 shares of company stock valued at $502,017. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 400.9% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Vital Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in Vital Energy by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 2,590.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Vital Energy by 234.2% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.54% of the company’s stock.

Vital Energy Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $29.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 3.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $459.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $461.58 million. Vital Energy had a net margin of 25.09% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Vital Energy

Vital Energy, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin of West Texas, the United States. The company was formerly known as Laredo Petroleum, Inc and changed its name to Vital Energy, Inc in January 2023.