Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $223.2632.

FANG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Truist Financial set a $242.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $249.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $196.99 on Wednesday. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $134.30 and a twelve month high of $214.51. The stock has a market cap of $55.41 billion, a PE ratio of 228.28 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $1.10 dividend. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 511.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total value of $1,486,544.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 942,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $178,362,813.20. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total value of $1,406,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 85,755 shares in the company, valued at $17,228,179.50. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,464 shares of company stock valued at $14,946,406. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,239,837 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $487,045,000 after buying an additional 1,379,010 shares in the last quarter. EnCap Energy Capital Fund XII L.P. acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $169,342,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $144,775,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $543,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,398 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $112,198,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

About Diamondback Energy

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.