Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target Raised to $230.00 at Citigroup

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price target upped by Citigroup from $178.00 to $230.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

FANG has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $173.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, January 19th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $175.00 target price on Diamondback Energy in a report on Friday, January 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.29.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $198.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $174.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.44. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $114.00 and a 52-week high of $204.91. The firm has a market cap of $55.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.41 and a beta of 0.59.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a $1.05 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 74.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $1,130,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,561.40. The trade was a 57.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Fang Holdings Lp Sgf sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.88, for a total value of $162,880,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 98,686,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,074,094,093.76. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,209,212 shares of company stock worth $199,689,401. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 245.1% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 106.3% in the third quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Diamondback Energy

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.