Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock Price

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $171.00 to $202.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Benchmark lowered Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Mizuho raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $194.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Scotiabank set a $175.00 target price on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $193.38.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.0%

FANG stock opened at $182.33 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. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $114.00 and a fifty-two week high of $186.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.75. The stock has a market cap of $51.29 billion, a PE ratio of 32.50 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 74.87%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total value of $11,586,450.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at $55,310,684.24. This represents a 17.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Fang Holdings Lp Sgf sold 1,000,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.88, for a total value of $162,880,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 98,686,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,074,094,093.76. This trade represents a 1.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 1,168,462 shares of company stock worth $192,197,747 over the last quarter. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 233.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 12,673 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 8,877 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 9.6% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 117,733 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $16,848,000 after buying an additional 10,289 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $472,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,385,428 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $198,255,000 after buying an additional 122,921 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WoodTrust Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,624,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.