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

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $212.65.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FANG. Johnson Rice downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $182.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $232.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $170.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $49.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.88. Diamondback Energy has a 52 week low of $145.70 and a 52 week high of $214.50. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $181.38 and a 200 day moving average of $189.40.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 16.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the company’s 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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FANG. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $87,924,000. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 938,474 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $161,793,000 after acquiring an additional 457,896 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,158,910 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $372,196,000 after acquiring an additional 439,579 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $603,038,000 after buying an additional 415,902 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 280.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 545,202 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $109,144,000 after buying an additional 402,026 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.