Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Increases Dividend to $1.00 Per Share

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 3rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of 1.00 per share by the oil and natural gas company on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90.

Diamondback Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 42.3% per year over the last three years. Diamondback Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 22.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Diamondback Energy to earn $15.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $148.00 on Tuesday. Diamondback Energy has a 52 week low of $147.70 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $165.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.70. 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 stock has a market cap of $42.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. On average, equities analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $218.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.09.

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.