Citigroup Cuts Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $178.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $180.00 to $178.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $173.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $183.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $188.67.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 5.1%

FANG stock opened at $147.66 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $180.91. The company has a market cap of $42.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day moving average of $149.24 and a 200-day moving average of $144.83.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.48 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 27.32%.The company’s revenue was up 48.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 377,911 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.61, for a total transaction of $52,382,243.71. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,044,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,828,599.04. The trade was a 26.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 106.3% in the third quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.