Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on FANG. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $233.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $185.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.64.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $176.60 on Wednesday. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $145.70 and a twelve month high of $214.50. The stock has a market cap of $51.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s fifty day moving average is $181.16 and its 200-day moving average is $191.43.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 16.78 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. This trade represents a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.2% during 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 during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 235.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $87,924,000. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 938,474 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $161,793,000 after acquiring an additional 457,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Homestead Advisers Corp bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $87,940,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.