Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Increases Stock Position in Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,600 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Viper Energy were worth $1,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viper Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Viper Energy by 328.5% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 587 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Viper Energy by 524.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,387 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Viper Energy by 99.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VNOM. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Viper Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Viper Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Viper Energy from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Viper Energy from $45.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viper Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.55.

Viper Energy Price Performance

Shares of VNOM opened at $49.41 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21 and a beta of 1.71. Viper Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.03 and a fifty-two week high of $56.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 7.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $49.41 and its 200-day moving average is $49.26.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Viper Energy’s previous dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.50%.

Viper Energy Company Profile

Viper Energy, Inc engages in the acquisition of oil and natural gas properties. It owns, acquires, and exploits oil and natural gas properties in North America. The company was founded on February 27, 2014 and is headquartered in Midland, TX.