Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target Raised to $186.00 at Morgan Stanley

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price target lifted by Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $186.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday. Bank Of America (Bofa) reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $147.00 to $129.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $222.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $190.11.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

FANG stock opened at $198.17 on Thursday. Diamondback Energy has a one year low of $123.41 and a one year high of $198.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $172.86 and a 200-day moving average of $161.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 17.93 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $3.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.22%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.76%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares in the company, valued at $15,031,153.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.94, for a total value of $969,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,619,663.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares in the company, valued at $15,031,153.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,675 shares of company stock worth $5,311,096 over the last ninety days. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $414,000. SCP Investment LP lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. SCP Investment LP now owns 3,800 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,869,787 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,391,567,000 after purchasing an additional 176,208 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,045 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 134,354 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $20,836,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is 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.