Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in 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 volume of 975,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Viper Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 62,727 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,994,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,013 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,230 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the period. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 11,811 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Viper Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viper Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.58.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of VNOM opened at $38.46 on Friday. Viper Energy has a 1-year low of $24.48 and a 1-year high of $38.76. The stock has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 1.79. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.32 and a quick ratio of 4.32.

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

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous None dividend of $0.09. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

About Viper Energy

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.