Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on FANG. Roth Capital set a $162.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $163.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $188.41.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 2.0%

Diamondback Energy stock traded up $2.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $143.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,564,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,760,843. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $142.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 0.99. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year high of $186.07.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 13th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 27.80%.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. True North Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter worth $327,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the first quarter valued at $230,039,000. Vantage Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 4.4% in the second quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 83,184 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $11,429,000 after acquiring an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 207,823 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $28,555,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 48,237 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $6,628,000 after purchasing an additional 4,911 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.