First Horizon Advisors Inc. Invests $26,000 in Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,833,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,348,000 after acquiring an additional 17,054 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Vital Energy by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,723,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,227,000 after purchasing an additional 282,574 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vital Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $64,690,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vital Energy by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 576,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,507,000 after buying an additional 35,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 18.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 303,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,593,000 after buying an additional 46,248 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VTLE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $45.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $48.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $66.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Vital Energy from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Vital Energy from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.09.

Vital Energy Price Performance

Shares of VTLE stock opened at $32.38 on Tuesday. Vital Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.85 and a fifty-two week high of $58.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 3.16. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.13.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $459.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vital Energy 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 approximately $2,212,306.64. This trade represents a 11.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Kathryn Anne Hill sold 2,023 shares of Vital Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total transaction of $61,135.06. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 29,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $879,130.02. The trade was a 6.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,168 shares of company stock valued at $502,017. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Vital Energy Company 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.