Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, seventeen have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $212.00.

Several research firms have commented on FANG. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $233.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $182.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 7.2% in the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 809 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $162,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 67.1% in the second quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.0% in the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,907 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the second quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,975 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,999,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 16.1% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 412 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $177.59 on Friday. Diamondback Energy has a 12 month low of $145.70 and a 12 month high of $214.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $181.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $51.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 16.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.61%.

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.