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

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $195.95.

FANG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $192.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $222.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $214.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of FANG stock opened at $199.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $35.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.93. Diamondback Energy has a 1-year low of $123.41 and a 1-year high of $211.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.21.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.52 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors 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 a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.17%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $384,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 96,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,532,416. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $384,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 96,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,532,416. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 2,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.35, for a total value of $514,536.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,485 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,089.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096 over the last ninety days. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 145.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 613.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 143.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.