Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $224.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $227.00 to $224.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on FANG. Raymond James reduced their target price on Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and boosted their target price for the company from $129.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank Of America (Bofa) decreased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $147.00 to $129.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $204.37.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $201.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.92. Diamondback Energy has a one year low of $123.41 and a one year high of $211.96. The company has a market cap of $35.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $195.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.84.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.10 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 18.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.82, for a total value of $2,289,840.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 185,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,470,003.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.82, for a total transaction of $2,289,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 185,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,470,003.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 57,675 shares of company stock valued at $11,311,096 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Founders Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 404.0% during the first quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 126 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Logan Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.