Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $228.90

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $231.84.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FANG shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $216.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $243.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $221.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Charles Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.74, for a total transaction of $6,124,605.42. Following the transaction, the director owned 759,864 shares in the company, valued at $139,617,411.36. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Travis Stice sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.31, for a total value of $15,323,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 49,727 shares in the company, valued at $10,159,723.37. The trade was a 60.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 141,666 shares of company stock valued at $28,061,456 over the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,303,362,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 31.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,420,247 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,886,351,000 after buying an additional 3,918,943 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,562,224 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,208,188,000 after buying an additional 510,281 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $852,791,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $651,363,000 after buying an additional 534,073 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $192.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $53.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.45 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.21. Diamondback Energy has a 12 month low of $137.03 and a 12 month high of $216.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.89 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 8.58%. The company’s revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.38 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 20.33 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, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 85.77%.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Midland, Texas. The company focuses primarily on the acquisition, development, exploration and production of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

Diamondback’s operations are concentrated in the Midland and Delaware sub-basins, where it develops properties using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Its production includes crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.