The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Position in Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,497 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 1,006 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,481,119 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $326,184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,603,333 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 16.8% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,410,968 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $246,566,000 after buying an additional 923,276 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 19.8% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 3,001,411 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $115,434,000 after acquiring an additional 496,131 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 12.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,085,841 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $78,282,000 after acquiring an additional 224,021 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scout Investments Inc. lifted its position in Viper Energy by 48.8% during the first quarter. Scout Investments Inc. now owns 1,934,469 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $73,703,000 after buying an additional 634,036 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VNOM shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Viper Energy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Viper Energy from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.63.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of VNOM opened at $51.36 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.59 and a beta of 1.73. Viper Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.61 and a fifty-two week high of $52.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 7.06 and a quick ratio of 7.06. The business’s 50-day moving average is $47.12 and its 200-day moving average is $41.77.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $216.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $216.28 million. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 25.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Viper Energy, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is 41.10%.

About Viper Energy

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.