Short Interest in Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) Grows By 25.2%

Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,050,000 shares, a growth of 25.2% from the July 31st total of 5,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 984,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.2 days. Currently, 30.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO M. Jason Pigott acquired 2,500 shares of Vital Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $37.85 per share, for a total transaction of $94,625.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 169,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,411,373.65. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VTLE. CWM LLC boosted its position in Vital Energy by 400.9% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vital Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Vital Energy by 42.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in Vital Energy by 100.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Vital Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $147,000. Institutional investors own 86.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VTLE. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Vital Energy from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Vital Energy from $52.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Vital Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Vital Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Vital Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.82.

Vital Energy Trading Up 2.1 %

VTLE stock opened at $37.03 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Vital Energy has a fifty-two week low of $35.13 and a fifty-two week high of $62.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 3.22.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.88 by ($0.42). Vital Energy had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 30.34%. The business had revenue of $476.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $468.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.35 EPS. Vital Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Vital Energy will post 8.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.