Brokerages Set Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) PT at $218.68

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-five brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $218.6842.

FANG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $221.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $229.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $246.00 to $243.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $204.68 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.57. Diamondback Energy has a 1-year low of $134.30 and a 1-year high of $214.51. The stock has a market cap of $57.58 billion, a PE ratio of 238.00 and a beta of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 511.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total transaction of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,303,451.68. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Ballast Inc. bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the second quarter worth about $281,000. Tema ETFs LLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 4,995 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $878,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 4,834 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $850,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,728 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.