Analysts Set Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Target Price at $195.95

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $202.53.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $129.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $207.10 on Friday. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $211.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.93. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $192.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.13.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a $3.08 dividend. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.76%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $384,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,523 shares in the company, valued at $18,532,416. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,675 shares of company stock valued at $11,311,096 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 4.5% in the first quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.7% in the third quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,797 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 1.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,655 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.5% in the third quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.