Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Viper Energy from $64.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viper Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.55.

Viper Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VNOM opened at $48.70 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 7.24. Viper Energy has a 1 year low of $30.56 and a 1 year high of $56.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.04 and a 200 day moving average of $48.78.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 6.72% and a net margin of 24.65%. The company had revenue of $209.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 28.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viper Energy will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viper Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VNOM. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 78.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,833,257 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $172,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,183 shares in the last quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $18,044,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama purchased a new stake in Viper Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $12,980,000. Zimmer Partners LP raised its holdings in Viper Energy by 344.0% during the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 325,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $14,661,000 after acquiring an additional 251,800 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 16.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,698,661 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $76,647,000 after acquiring an additional 234,048 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.