Evercore ISI Increases Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $215.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective upped by Evercore ISI from $185.00 to $215.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on FANG. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $183.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $192.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the company from $129.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $190.11.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $198.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $35.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.77. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $198.53. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $161.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The firm 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 firm posted $5.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 17.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a $3.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $12.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 20.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 78,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 27,675 shares of company stock worth $5,311,096. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FANG. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 232.8% in the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 213 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Logan Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.