Permian Resources Corporation (PR) Stock Price & How to Invest

Permian Resources Corporation was formed in September 2022 when Centennial Resource Development combined with Colgate Energy, and it was enlarged again by the Earthstone acquisition in late 2023. The company is a pure-play Permian operator, with roughly 535,000 net acres concentrated in the core of the Delaware Basin across West Texas and southeast New Mexico, and it describes itself as the second largest Permian pure-play E&P. Second quarter 2026 production averaged about 376,400 Boe/d, of which roughly 198,100 Bbls/d was crude oil. Proved reserves stood at about 1.12 billion Boe at year end 2025, 43% oil and 71% proved developed. Alongside the drilling program, Permian Resources runs an unusually active "ground game" of small leasehold and mineral purchases: in the first half of 2026 it closed roughly 190 separate transactions for about 54,000 net acres and 20,000 net royalty acres at a combined cost of $1.05 billion.

The investment picture is dominated by two variables the company does not control and one it does. It does not control crude prices, and second quarter realizations of $97.81 per barrel are what produced $1.86 billion of oil and gas sales and $751 million of adjusted free cash flow in a single quarter. It also does not control Waha, the West Texas gas hub, where prices averaged negative $3.14 per Mcf in the quarter and forced the company to curtail some high gas-oil-ratio volumes. What it does control is cost and capital structure, and both look better than most peers: total controllable cash costs of $7.49 per Boe, full-year capital spending guided to $1.9 billion to $2.0 billion against oil growth of roughly 10%, and net debt cut from $4.2 billion at the end of 2024 to about $2.7 billion of total debt after the July 2026 note redemption. Capital returns are deliberately conservative, a $0.16 quarterly base dividend with no variable component, with the surplus going to acquisitions, debt reduction and opportunistic buybacks.

The single largest risk is the oil price, and the second quarter's $97.81 per barrel realization is not a normal number: at $60 crude the same asset generates materially less free cash flow, and the capital program, the dividend and the acquisition pace would all have to be reset. Geographic concentration is deliberate and cuts both ways, since a pure-play Delaware operator has no diversification against basin-specific problems such as negative Waha gas pricing, produced-water disposal constraints or induced seismicity restrictions in New Mexico and West Texas. The company spends roughly $2 billion a year just to hold and grow production, so shale decline rates mean capital intensity does not go away. Hedging cuts both directions: derivative settlements reduced realized oil prices by $12.44 per barrel in the quarter, and mark-to-market swings turned a $369 million non-cash derivative loss in the first quarter into a $257 million gain in the second, which makes reported GAAP earnings a noisy signal. Finally, the acquisition engine is the equity story, and a sustained period of higher asset prices or a misjudged deal would blunt the mechanism that has driven returns since 2015.

19 analysts publish price targets on PR, averaging $25.79 against a $23.87 price as of August 2026, or +8.0%. The published targets run from $22.00 to $30.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 19 buy, 2 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 6 raises and 5 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full PR forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Permian Resources Corporation. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Acreage bought a parcel at a time, not a company at a time. Most large E&P consolidation happens through multi-billion-dollar corporate mergers that carry a control premium. The most optimistic published target, $30.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The single largest risk is the oil price, and the second quarter's $97.81 per barrel realization is not a normal number: at $60 crude the same asset generates materially less free cash flow, and the capital program, the dividend and the acquisition pace would all have to be reset. The most pessimistic target, $22.00, is roughly what PR is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on PR, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Permian Resources Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$5.74B
• Net income attributable to Class A (TTM): ~$1.23B
• Adjusted EBITDAX (TTM): ~$4.36B
• Q2 2026 production: ~376,400 Boe/d (~198,100 Bbls/d oil)
• Net debt / leverage: ~$2.9B, ~0.5x LQA EBITDAX
• Base dividend: $0.16/quarter (~$0.64 annualized, ~3.1% yield)

With roughly 837 million Class A shares outstanding at about $23.87, the equity is worth on the order of $20 billion, or roughly $23 billion including net debt. Against trailing adjusted EBITDAX of about $4.36 billion that is a little over 5x, a multiple typical of oil-weighted shale producers and a discount to the majors, and trailing operating cash flow of about $3.99 billion covers the roughly $2 billion capital program with room. Trailing GAAP earnings of about $1.23 billion put the stock near the mid-teens on a price-to-earnings basis, but that figure is distorted by non-cash derivative swings and by the fact that the Class C units converted during the period, so cash flow multiples describe the business more faithfully than earnings multiples.

If you want PR exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

Other names that sit close to PR: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get PR exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (DFAT), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so PR sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where PR fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

PR is a scaled, low-cost Delaware Basin operator with leverage near 0.5x and a growing acreage position, which makes it an oil-price vehicle with unusually little balance-sheet risk attached.

Whether PR is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is PR a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the PR stock forecast.

For income investors, whether PR pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does PR pay a dividend? And to weigh PR against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: PR vs MTDR and PR vs XOM.