Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Receives Average Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Shares have an average analyst rating of "Buy" from 26 analysts (17 buy, 5 strong buy, 4 hold) with a mean 1‑year price target of about $203.95, and several firms recently raised targets (Citigroup to $230, Mizuho to $220).
• Insiders have sold a total of 1,217,069 shares valued at roughly $201.2 million over the last 90 days (including sales by the CFO and EVP), and insiders now own 0.48% of the stock.
• In the most recent quarter Diamondback reported EPS of $1.74 (missing the $2.00 estimate) with revenue down 9% year‑over‑year, while the company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.05 (annualized $4.20, yield 2.2%, payout ratio 74.87%).

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Buy" from the twenty-six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $203.9524.

FANG has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank raised shares of Diamondback Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $178.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Jere W. Thompson III sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.47, for a total value of $136,852.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 19,975 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,644,838.25. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 4,101 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.51, for a total transaction of $781,281.51. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 56,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,743,239.92. The trade was a 6.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 1,217,069 shares of company stock valued at $201,213,109 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 493,958 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $74,257,000 after acquiring an additional 129,603 shares during the period. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $377,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 38,871 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $5,844,000 after buying an additional 2,036 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Tulsa Wealth Advisors INC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $973,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $189.10 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $181.07 and its 200-day moving average is $160.06. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $125.87 and a 52-week high of $204.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $53.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71 and a beta of 0.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.67 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is presently 74.87%.

About Diamondback Energy

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.

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