Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Plans Dividend Increase – $1.00 Per Share

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of 1.00 per share by the oil and natural gas company on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90.

Diamondback Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 42.3% per year over the last three years. Diamondback Energy has a payout ratio of 22.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Diamondback Energy to earn $15.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $155.23 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $165.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.27. The stock has a market cap of $45.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy has a 52 week low of $152.00 and a 52 week high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.07. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. Analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FANG shares. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $207.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.22.

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.