Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Cut to Moderate Buy at Johnson Rice

Johnson Rice lowered shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) from a strong-buy rating to a moderate buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

FANG has been the subject of several other research reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a peer perform rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $249.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $243.00 to $236.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $209.71.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $168.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a quick ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $143.08 and a twelve month high of $214.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.70.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.51% and a return on equity of 19.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 18.97 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at $181,732,485.09. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of hedge funds and other 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% in the first quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 126 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the second quarter worth $40,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently 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.