Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 228,177 Shares of Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) by 3,200.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,307 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 228,177 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Viper Energy worth $10,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VNOM. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Viper Energy by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 159,277 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,126,000 after acquiring an additional 23,500 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Viper Energy by 81.9% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,308 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 20,396 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Viper Energy by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,481,119 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $326,184,000 after acquiring an additional 1,603,333 shares in the last quarter. Carlson Capital L P boosted its position in shares of Viper Energy by 69.6% in the 1st quarter. Carlson Capital L P now owns 94,443 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,632,000 after purchasing an additional 38,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viper Energy in the 1st quarter worth $232,000. Institutional investors own 87.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Viper Energy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Viper Energy from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Viper Energy from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Viper Energy from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Viper Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.25.

Viper Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VNOM stock opened at $50.84 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82 and a beta of 1.72. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $49.55 and a 200 day moving average of $43.79. Viper Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.55 and a 1 year high of $56.08.

Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $209.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.54 million. Viper Energy had a return on equity of 6.72% and a net margin of 24.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 28.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Viper Energy, Inc. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Viper Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Viper Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.50%.

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.