Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target Cut to $184.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $184.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

FANG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $250.00 to $248.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $214.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $195.95.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

FANG stock opened at $205.35 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.40. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $211.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 18.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $3.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.00%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 78,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,031,153.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Diamondback Energy news, CFO Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.82, for a total value of $2,289,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 185,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,470,003.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total value of $1,153,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096 in the last three months. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 145.2% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 11,993 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,860,000 after purchasing an additional 7,102 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 613.7% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,401 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,388,000 after purchasing an additional 13,243 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 143.0% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 981,284 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $152,177,000 after purchasing an additional 577,514 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,494,159 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $541,175,000 after purchasing an additional 89,663 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 31,348 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico.