Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on FANG. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Roth Capital set a $212.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $248.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $220.75.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $188.04 on Friday. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $134.30 and a 52-week high of $214.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.65 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $190.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 8.58%.Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 19.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 13th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 85.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.41, for a total transaction of $6,613,600.53. Following the sale, the director owned 818,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,338,466.77. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total value of $1,406,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 85,755 shares in the company, valued at $17,228,179.50. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 139,167 shares of company stock worth $26,749,809 in the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,303,362,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $821,649,000 after purchasing an additional 163,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,621,120 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $844,073,000 after purchasing an additional 14,625 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,159,365 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $775,607,000 after purchasing an additional 532,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $651,363,000 after purchasing an additional 534,073 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.