Retirement Systems of Alabama Buys 72,344 Shares of Viper Energy Inc. $VNOM

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Viper Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 532,618 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,344 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $21,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Viper Energy in the first quarter valued at $37,464,000. Ashford Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the first quarter worth about $16,103,000. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viper Energy by 36.9% during the first quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 989,318 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $46,488,000 after purchasing an additional 266,703 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the second quarter worth about $10,792,000. Finally, Ninepoint Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the second quarter worth about $10,600,000. 87.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VNOM has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer downgraded Viper Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $53.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. TD upped their target price on Viper Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Viper Energy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Mizuho set a $57.00 price target on Viper Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Viper Energy in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.41.

Viper Energy Stock Up 2.3%

VNOM stock opened at $41.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $14.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 5.92 and a quick ratio of 5.92. Viper Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.10 and a 12 month high of $51.13.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.03. Viper Energy had a net margin of 12.08% and a return on equity of 4.24%. The company had revenue of $661.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $625.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. Viper Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Viper Energy Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 110.95%.

About Viper Energy

Viper Energy, Inc. owns and acquires mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties. Rather than serving primarily as a drilling operator, the company earns revenue from production on acreage where other companies conduct exploration and development. Its interests are concentrated in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, including the Midland and Delaware sub-basins. Viper’s business is tied to activity by the operators that develop the underlying properties.