Raymond James Issues Positive Forecast for Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock Price

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price target increased by Raymond James from $232.00 to $237.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a strong-buy rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on FANG. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $247.00 to $223.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “sector outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of FANG opened at $185.29 on Tuesday. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $145.70 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $182.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $190.81. The stock has a market cap of $54.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 16.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FANG. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 13.6% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,330 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 105.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 560 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 27.5% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,266 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,432 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,533,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 337.8% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 7,211 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after acquiring an additional 5,564 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.