Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $49.65 and last traded at $49.51, with a volume of 208827 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $48.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VNOM. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.43.

Viper Energy Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a current ratio of 7.06, a quick ratio of 7.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $45.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.03.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.19. Viper Energy had a net margin of 25.63% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company had revenue of $216.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 34.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Viper Energy, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.12%.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 1,045.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,877,786 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $215,825,000 after purchasing an additional 6,277,324 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,490,896 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $423,344,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246,219 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 16.8% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,410,968 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $246,566,000 after purchasing an additional 923,276 shares during the period. Scout Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 48.8% in the first quarter. Scout Investments Inc. now owns 1,934,469 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $73,703,000 after purchasing an additional 634,036 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 326.0% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 760,830 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,554,000 after purchasing an additional 582,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Company Profile

Viper Energy, Inc owns and acquires mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin, North America. Viper Energy Partners GP LLC operates as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Viper Energy Partners LP and changed its name to Viper Energy, Inc in November 2023.