Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target Raised to $169.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $160.00 to $169.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

FANG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Diamondback Energy from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $171.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy to $188.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $188.95.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $146.37 on Monday. Diamondback Energy has a one year low of $114.00 and a one year high of $186.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $41.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.24.

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

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 27.80%.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $230,039,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $144,775,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $543,610,000 after buying an additional 1,046,398 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $77,622,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2,637.8% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 456,686 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $65,352,000 after acquiring an additional 440,005 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.