Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target Raised to $237.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price target raised by Raymond James from $232.00 to $237.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on FANG. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “sector outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $182.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Johnson Rice cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $195.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ FANG opened at $182.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $53.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.89. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.94. Diamondback Energy has a one year low of $145.70 and a one year high of $214.50.

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

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. This trade represents a 92.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FANG. First Community Trust NA bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 67.1% during the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 99.2% during the 2nd quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 251 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.