Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Raised to “Overweight” at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $210.00 target price on the oil and natural gas company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $216.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on FANG. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $237.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Johnson Rice cut Diamondback Energy from a strong-buy rating to a moderate buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an overweight rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, September 16th. They set a hold rating and a $185.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $209.50.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.4 %

FANG stock opened at $194.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average of $187.40 and a 200 day moving average of $195.23. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $143.08 and a twelve month high of $214.50. The firm has a market cap of $34.71 billion, a PE ratio of 10.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 37.51%. The company’s revenue was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $2.34 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous None dividend of $2.26. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 20.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,609,143 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,706,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381,488 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 235.6% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,730,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $541,844,000 after buying an additional 1,916,900 shares during the period. Homestead Advisers Corp purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter worth $87,940,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $603,038,000 after acquiring an additional 415,902 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 280.8% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 545,202 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $109,144,000 after acquiring an additional 402,026 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.