Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target Lowered to $224.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $227.00 to $224.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company's stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on FANG. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America raised Diamondback Energy from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $129.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $214.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $204.37.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Diamondback Energy stock traded up $3.87 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $201.50. 1,873,692 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,745,569. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.94 billion, a PE ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.91. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $211.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.21. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 36.71%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.10 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy's revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is 20.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total value of $1,153,020.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,869,787 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $3,391,567,000 after acquiring an additional 176,208 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,266,640 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $2,209,617,000 after buying an additional 648,317 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,494,159 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $541,175,000 after buying an additional 89,663 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,320,567 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $514,289,000 after buying an additional 206,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,007,599 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $465,817,000 after buying an additional 858,446 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

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.