Jennison Associates LLC Invests $750,000 in Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE)

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 24,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $750,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vital Energy in the third quarter valued at $26,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Vital Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 247.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 1,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vital Energy by 2,590.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. 86.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vital Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Vital Energy from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.90.

Vital Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:VTLE opened at $31.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 3.12. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Vital Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.85 and a 1-year high of $58.30.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 25.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.16 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current 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.