Viper Energy, Inc. (VNOM)

Price$44.39Cached quoteAs of 2026-09-06 10:34 UTC

AI: Fair-priced

Price checkThe shares look reasonably priced, but not cheap enough to ignore oil-price and acquisition risk.

At the observed quote, Viper trades at roughly 11 times cash available for distribution, a company measure after taxes, debt service, fixed obligations and reserves, implied by management’s $70 oil framework. The new $2 annual base dividend is about half of that cash, implying roughly $4 per share and about a 9% cash-available yield. Q2’s $1.37 per-share figure annualizes to a cheaper eight times, but Q2 oil realizations were unusually high near $98 a barrel. With pro forma debt near $1.8 billion, the balanced reading is Fair-priced.

Big pictureCash generation has strengthened sharply, while recent acquisitions make reported earnings and growth harder to compare.

Revenue rose from $854 million in 2024 to $1.35 billion in 2025, yet net income swung to a $68 million loss because 2025 included a $768 million impairment, a non-cash write-down of asset value. Operating cash flow still rose to $1.05 billion from $620 million. Momentum continued in 2026: first-half revenue was about $1.15 billion and operating cash flow totaled $815 million. The catch is cyclicality: Q2 benefited from much stronger oil pricing, so recent cash flow should not be treated as a fixed run rate.

Business strengthThe royalty model turns production into cash efficiently, but acquisitions are rebuilding debt and adding shares.

Viper owns mineral and royalty interests, so operators fund drilling while Viper receives a share of production revenue; that keeps direct operating needs relatively light. Net debt fell from $2.17 billion at year-end 2025 to $1.60 billion by June 2026, and current assets of $580 million comfortably exceeded $91 million of current liabilities. However, Riverbend used about $339 million of cash plus 3.69 million new Class A shares, and another Diamondback deal would issue about 3.65 million equivalent units and Class B shares. Q2 buybacks of roughly 3.0 million shares partly offset dilution.

What could change the storyFaster per-share production growth would create upside; weaker oil prices or debt-heavy deals would erase it.

The bull case is visible in development activity: after Riverbend, Viper counted about 1,798 gross wells in active development and raised full-year 2026 production guidance to 132,500–135,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. If production per share keeps rising and net debt moves meaningfully below roughly $1.8 billion, today’s valuation could prove conservative. The bear case is sustained oil well below $70 a barrel, slower operator drilling, or acquisitions that add debt and shares faster than cash per share. Those outcomes would make the current roughly 11-times normalized cash valuation too generous.

AI: News

Dividend and production resetViper raised its base dividend and production outlook, while giving itself more freedom to retain cash.

On August 3, Viper reported Q2 cash available for distribution of $262 million, or $1.37 per Class A share, and lifted the annual base dividend 32% to $2.00. It also raised full-year production guidance to 132,500–135,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and ended its commitment to return at least 75% of quarterly distributable cash. Shares traded roughly 3% lower the next day, but oil also fell sharply, so attributing the move solely to Viper’s announcement would be uncertain.

Riverbend acquisition closesThe Riverbend deal added Permian royalties and production, but it also raised debt and issued new shares.

Viper closed Riverbend on July 1 for about $339 million in cash plus 3.69 million Class A shares. The acquired interests cover about 2,772 net royalty acres in the final SEC filing; earlier transaction materials estimated roughly 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of next-12-month production. Management had expected pro forma net debt around $1.8 billion at closing. The deal therefore adds production and development inventory, but its value depends on the extra cash per share exceeding the financing and dilution cost.

Diamondback acreage dealA new related-party acreage purchase could deepen Permian growth, but shareholders pay through additional ownership dilution.

On August 3, Viper agreed to acquire about 933 net royalty acres from Diamondback and related subsidiaries for 3.65 million operating-company units plus the same number of Class B shares. Those paired securities are economically equivalent to future Class A shares, so the transaction adds roughly 1% to the current economic share count before offsets. It requires no large cash payment, preserving liquidity, but investors should judge it by whether production and cash available per share rise after closing, expected late in the third quarter.

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Revenue

2022

2023

2024

2025

Net income

2022

2023

2024

2025

Free cash flow

2022

2023

2024

2025

Total cash / debt

CashTotal debt

2022

2023

2024

2025

Financial statements

	2025	2024	2023	2022
Revenue	$1.35B	$854.0M	$717.0M	$865.8M
Operating expenses	$1.53B	$294.0M	$208.0M	$7.8M
Operating income	−$140.0M	$567.0M	$620.0M	$680.5M
Operating margin	−10.40%	66.39%	86.47%	78.60%
EBITDA	$485.0M	$792.0M	$741.0M	$783.4M
EBITDA margin	36.03%	92.74%	103.35%	90.49%
Net income	−$68.0M	$359.0M	$200.0M	$151.7M
Net profit margin	−5.05%	42.04%	27.89%	17.52%
Basic EPSper basic share	-$0.48	$3.82	$2.69	$2.00
Diluted EPSper diluted share	-$0.48	$3.82	$2.69	$2.00

Review official source filings ↗

Owners

Reported shareholders

Reference date Jun 30, 2026

13.83%of listed shares

Capital World Investors26.47M shares · Jun 30, 2026

View holders

Top 20 reported holders of VNOM
Holder	% owned
Capital World Investors	13.83%26.47M shares
BlackRock, Inc.	10.05%19.23M shares
Kimmeridge Energy Management Company, LLC	8.19%15.68M shares
VANGUARD PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LLC	4.74%9.07M shares
PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/	4.67%8.94M shares
WELLINGTON MANAGEMENT GROUP LLP	4.54%8.7M shares
VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC	4.40%8.43M shares
STATE STREET CORP	3.95%7.56M shares
FIL Ltd	2.95%5.65M shares
D. E. Shaw & Co., Inc.	2.86%5.47M shares
ADAGE CAPITAL PARTNERS GP, L.L.C.	2.84%5.43M shares
OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP	1.98%3.79M shares
GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC	1.97%3.76M shares
NEUBERGER BERMAN GROUP LLC	1.70%3.25M shares
Invesco Ltd.	1.45%2.78M shares
RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL INC	1.43%2.73M shares
FMR LLC	1.29%2.48M shares
UBS Group AG	1.24%2.37M shares
TWO SIGMA INVESTMENTS, LP	1.23%2.36M shares
T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc.	0.86%1.66M shares

Percentages use 191.38M shares of this listed class outstanding on Jun 30, 2026.

Gray completes the 100% scale. Reported positions may overlap; holders have different reporting dates.

Source: SEC Form 13F ↗Updated Sep 29, 2026 · Quarterly data

Insider buys & sells

Jul 1, 2024–Jun 30, 2026

Buys0$0.00 disclosed value

Sells (SEC code S)2$589.46M disclosed value

Transaction	Insider	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Owned after
Mar 19, 2026Form 4	Diamondback Energy, Inc.TenPercentOwner,Other	SellClass A Common Stock	510.1K	$45.69	$23.31M	510.1K
Mar 4, 2026Form 4	Diamondback Energy, Inc.TenPercentOwner,Other	SellClass A Common Stock	12.39M	$45.69	$566.16M	12.39M

Review ownership filings at SEC.gov ↗

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Viper Energy, Inc. (VNOM)

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