Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $465,000 Position in Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,014 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Vital Energy were worth $465,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Vital Energy by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Energy by 276.9% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 803 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Energy by 805.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Vital Energy by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 17,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 972 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Vital Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Mark David Denny sold 5,974 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.73, for a total value of $123,841.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 42,494 shares in the company, valued at $880,900.62. This represents a 12.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Richard D. Campbell acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.75 per share, for a total transaction of $88,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 43,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $764,528. This trade represents a 13.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,647 shares of company stock valued at $448,742 over the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VTLE. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $34.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Siebert Williams Shank cut shares of Vital Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Williams Trading set a $27.00 target price on shares of Vital Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vital Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.36.

Vital Energy Stock Performance

NYSE VTLE opened at $18.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $705.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.84 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.40 and a 200-day moving average of $26.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Vital Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.30 and a 1-year high of $51.71.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.26. Vital Energy had a negative net margin of 8.89% and a positive return on equity of 9.48%. The business had revenue of $512.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $528.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Vital Energy’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Vital Energy

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.