Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nineteen have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $193.13.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FANG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $207.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Williams Trading set a $190.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $194.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “reduce” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In related news, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 120,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,214,835.05. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,496,859,000 after purchasing an additional 928,429 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 4.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,418,840 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $861,961,000 after purchasing an additional 249,098 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,165 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $769,706,000 after purchasing an additional 91,605 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,257,247 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $680,649,000 after purchasing an additional 94,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,102,785 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $655,953,000 after acquiring an additional 208,200 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $148.85 on Wednesday. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.49 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.47.

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

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

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.