Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Has $8.37 Million Stake in Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 311,130 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 57,810 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Vital Energy were worth $8,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VTLE. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Vital Energy by 400.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Energy by 2,590.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Energy by 234.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Energy by 100.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.54% of the company’s stock.

Vital Energy Stock Down 6.2 %

VTLE stock opened at $31.01 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $29.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.44. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 3.19. Vital Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.85 and a twelve month high of $58.30.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $459.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $461.58 million. Vital Energy had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 25.09%. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.16 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 6.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vital Energy

In other news, EVP Mark David Denny sold 5,145 shares of Vital Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total transaction of $155,481.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $796,538.76. The trade was a 16.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Bryan Lemmerman sold 10,000 shares of Vital Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total value of $285,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 77,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,306.64. This represents a 11.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,168 shares of company stock worth $502,017 over the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VTLE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Vital Energy from $45.00 to $31.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Vital Energy from $66.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Vital Energy from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp lowered Vital Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Vital Energy from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.09.

Vital Energy Profile

Vital Energy, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin of West Texas, the United States. The company was formerly known as Laredo Petroleum, Inc and changed its name to Vital Energy, Inc in January 2023.