Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Receives $221.37 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the twenty-five analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $220.6842.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FANG shares. Mizuho upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $1,000,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,283,539.20. This trade represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the sale, the director owned 851,530 shares in the company, valued at $159,338,293.60. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 121,548 shares of company stock worth $23,146,460. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,355,480 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $337,078,000 after purchasing an additional 198,919 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 139,308 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $20,942,000 after purchasing an additional 21,575 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,441,622 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $216,719,000 after purchasing an additional 56,194 shares during the period. Eagle Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $5,472,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 338,577 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $50,890,000 after buying an additional 47,450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $172.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.21. The stock has a market cap of $48.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 200.05 and a beta of 0.42. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $134.30 and a 1 year high of $214.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 19.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $1.10 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: FANG) is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub?basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback’s activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.