Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $95.51 Million Position in Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viper Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNOM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 1,946,305 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $95,505,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VNOM. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viper Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 328.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 587 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 321.7% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 679 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 43.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 701 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Viper Energy by 524.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,387 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,165 shares during the period. 87.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VNOM. StockNews.com raised Viper Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target (down from $64.00) on shares of Viper Energy in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Viper Energy in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp raised Viper Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Viper Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.55.

Viper Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ VNOM opened at $41.36 on Friday. Viper Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.45 and a 12 month high of $56.76. The stock has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $48.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.38. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 7.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Viper Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost 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 32.70%.

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.