Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Receives Buy Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $154.00 target price on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

FANG has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Diamondback Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $209.35.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $192.73 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $34.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.90. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $123.41 and a twelve month high of $211.96.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.21. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 19.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $6,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total transaction of $1,182,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,736,123.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,362,750 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Founders Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 404.0% in the first quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 126 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Logan Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.