Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $188.6667.

FANG has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $174.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $180.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 377,911 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.61, for a total transaction of $52,382,243.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,044,864 shares in the company, valued at $144,828,599.04. This represents a 26.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 1,123.0% in the 2nd quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 43,515 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $5,979,000 after purchasing an additional 39,957 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 181.6% in the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 2,290 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 22.9% in the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 12,998 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,786,000 after buying an additional 2,423 shares during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 83,184 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $11,429,000 after buying an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 207,823 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $28,555,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $147.41 on Friday. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $114.00 and a fifty-two week high of $180.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $42.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $149.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.91.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.14. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 27.32%.The business had revenue of $3.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 48.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 27.80%.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: FANG) is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub?basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback’s activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.