Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $207.00 to $208.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

FANG has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $234.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $183.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $193.13.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of FANG stock opened at $148.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $43.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.06. Diamondback Energy has a 1-year low of $114.00 and a 1-year high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.13.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.87. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 30.84% and a return on equity of 11.22%. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.50 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.69, for a total value of $1,426,900.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 120,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,214,835.05. This trade represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 4.1% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 88,522 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $14,153,000 after buying an additional 3,518 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 18.4% in the first quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 2,739 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.8% in the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 13,144 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,101,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 8.9% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 40,548 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $6,483,000 after buying an additional 3,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 57.8% in the first quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,611,000 after buying an additional 5,982 shares during the last quarter. 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.