Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) Raised to Peer Perform at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report released on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VTLE. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Vital Energy from $66.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Vital Energy from $48.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Vital Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Vital Energy from $35.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

Vital Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:VTLE opened at $32.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 3.19. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.27 and a 200 day moving average of $33.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Vital Energy has a 1-year low of $25.85 and a 1-year high of $58.30.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.15. Vital Energy had a net margin of 25.09% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The firm had revenue of $459.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $461.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vital Energy will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Mark David Denny sold 5,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total transaction of $155,481.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $796,538.76. This trade represents a 16.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Bryan Lemmerman sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $285,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 77,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,306.64. The trade was 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 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Vital Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $64,690,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Vital Energy by 800.9% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 541,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,263,000 after acquiring an additional 481,248 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Energy during the third quarter valued at $7,945,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Vital Energy by 19.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,723,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,227,000 after acquiring an additional 282,574 shares during the period. Finally, Thomist Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Vital Energy in the second quarter worth about $10,443,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.54% of the company’s stock.

Vital Energy Company 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.