Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) Stock Price Down 4.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) fell 4.5% during trading on Monday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $27.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Vital Energy traded as low as $30.07 and last traded at $30.07. 230,835 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 895,778 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.49.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Vital Energy from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Vital Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Vital Energy from $48.00 to $40.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Vital Energy from $66.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Vital Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mark David Denny sold 5,145 shares of the 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. This represents a 16.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bryan Lemmerman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $285,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 77,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,212,306.64. This trade represents a 11.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,168 shares of company stock worth $502,017. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vital Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VTLE. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vital Energy by 400.9% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Vital Energy in the third quarter worth $26,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Vital Energy by 100.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Vital Energy by 234.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,630 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.54% of the company’s stock.

Vital Energy Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 3.19.

Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.15. The company 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%. Vital Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Vital Energy, Inc. will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current year.

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.