Renaissance Technologies LLC Makes New $37.46 Million Investment in Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 797,278 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $37,464,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,543,000. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Viper Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $1,637,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new position in Viper Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $1,777,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in Viper Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $4,493,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Viper Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,332,000. 87.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of Viper Energy stock opened at $43.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -134.50 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $44.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.37. The company has a current ratio of 6.17, a quick ratio of 6.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Viper Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.10 and a 1-year high of $51.13.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $499.81 million. Viper Energy had a negative net margin of 2.77% and a positive return on equity of 2.64%. Viper Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 108.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Viper Energy’s payout ratio is presently -475.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VNOM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Viper Energy in a research note on Friday, May 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered Viper Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Viper Energy from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.57.

Viper Energy Profile

Viper Energy Partners LP is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns and intends to acquire mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties. As a pass-through entity, Viper Energy Partners does not engage in drilling or production operations directly; instead, it generates revenues by holding overriding royalty interests, mineral fee interests and royalty fee interests. These interests entitle the partnership to receive a percentage of the proceeds from hydrocarbons produced and sold by third-party operators.

The partnership’s assets are concentrated in the Permian Basin, with a primary focus on the Delaware Basin region of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.