Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $199.56 and last traded at $199.3760, with a volume of 535335 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $191.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $180.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $173.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $182.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $194.48.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $55.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $169.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.29.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.67 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.87%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, CFO Jere W. Thompson III sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.47, for a total transaction of $136,852.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,644,838.25. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Albert Barkmann sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.90, for a total transaction of $731,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 27,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,735.90. This represents a 12.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,209,212 shares of company stock worth $199,689,401. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 24.3% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 51,405 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,063,000 after purchasing an additional 10,061 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $523,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 578,699 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $79,513,000 after buying an additional 43,400 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 16,089 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,211,000 after buying an additional 2,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 13.0% in the second quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 1,501 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.