Raymond James & Associates Buys 71,385 Shares of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE)

Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) by 96.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 145,167 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,385 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Vital Energy were worth $3,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VTLE. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vital Energy by 94.4% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Vital Energy by 454.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 24,230 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Vital Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vital Energy by 6.8% in the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 1,311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in shares of Vital Energy in the second quarter valued at about $239,000. 86.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VTLE shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Vital Energy in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Vital Energy from $66.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp cut Vital Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Vital Energy from $41.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Vital Energy from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bryan Lemmerman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 77,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,306.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Bryan Lemmerman sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $285,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 77,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,306.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark David Denny sold 5,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total transaction of $155,481.90. Following 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 0.00 % 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. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Vital Energy Price Performance

NYSE VTLE opened at $26.03 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.79. Vital Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.85 and a 52-week high of $58.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $993.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 3.16.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by ($0.42). Vital Energy had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $476.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.35 earnings per share. Vital Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vital Energy Profile

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.