Analysts Set Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target at $188.70

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) have been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the twenty-two research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $188.6667.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $174.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $183.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy to $188.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 377,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.61, for a total transaction of $52,382,243.71. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,044,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,828,599.04. This represents a 26.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 1,123.0% in the 2nd quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 43,515 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $5,979,000 after purchasing an additional 39,957 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 181.6% in the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 2,290 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 12,998 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,786,000 after acquiring an additional 2,423 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 83,184 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $11,429,000 after acquiring an additional 3,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 48,237 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $6,628,000 after acquiring an additional 4,911 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $147.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $42.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $149.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.83. Diamondback Energy has a 52 week low of $114.00 and a 52 week high of $180.91.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.14. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 27.32%.The business had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 27.80%.

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.