Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Short Interest Down 50.7% in March

Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, a drop of 50.7% from the February 29th total of 4,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 975,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VNOM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Viper Energy in a report on Thursday, December 7th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Viper Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.58.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Viper Energy by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,487,692 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $172,204,000 after purchasing an additional 369,463 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Viper Energy by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,505,280 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $78,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197,567 shares during the period. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Viper Energy by 47.2% in the second quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 2,446,218 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $65,632,000 after purchasing an additional 784,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Stock Up 1.0 %

VNOM stock opened at $37.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.02 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 4.32 and a current ratio of 4.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.34 and its 200 day moving average is $31.32. Viper Energy has a one year low of $24.48 and a one year high of $38.76.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $204.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.61 million. Viper Energy had a net margin of 24.17% and a return on equity of 8.29%. The firm’s revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Viper Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a None dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a yield of 3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This is a positive change from Viper Energy’s previous None dividend of $0.09. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.00%.

Viper Energy Company Profile

Viper Energy, Inc owns and acquires mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties primarily 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.