Principal Financial Group Inc. Invests $268,000 in Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 7,130 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 1,045.4% during 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 buying an additional 6,277,324 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Viper Energy by 20.0% during the 4th 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. Scout Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $40,808,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Viper Energy by 91.6% during the 4th 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, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Viper Energy by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,410,968 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $246,566,000 after purchasing an additional 923,276 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Viper Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:VNOM opened at $42.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.80 and a beta of 1.73. Viper Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.73 and a twelve month high of $49.37. The company has a current ratio of 7.06, a quick ratio of 7.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $44.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.98.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.19. Viper Energy had a net margin of 25.63% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The business had revenue of $216.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Viper Energy, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Viper Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on VNOM shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.17.

Viper Energy Company Profile

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