Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Melius

Melius started coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $213.00 price objective on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $228.00 to $222.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $192.00 to $188.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.33.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of FANG opened at $143.28 on Wednesday. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $200.47. The company has a market cap of $41.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.80.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.72 by ($0.05). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 27.25% and a return on equity of 9.48%. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 48.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 28.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 20,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.80, for a total value of $2,913,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 102,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,586,306. The trade was a 16.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the first quarter worth about $230,039,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $185,193,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the second quarter worth about $144,775,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,496,859,000 after purchasing an additional 928,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 16,197.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 605,625 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $96,827,000 after purchasing an additional 601,909 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.