Stifel Nicolaus Boosts Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $229.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price target hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $224.00 to $229.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on FANG. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Bank of America raised Diamondback Energy from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $202.53.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

FANG stock opened at $207.10 on Tuesday. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $211.96. The business’s 50-day moving average is $192.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $36.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.93.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 37.36%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.29 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $3.08 per share. This represents a $12.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.95%. 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. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $384,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,532,416. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096 in the last quarter. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FANG. Founders Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 404.0% in the 1st quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 126 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Logan Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.