Morgan Stanley Trims Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Target Price to $184.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $184.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FANG. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays started coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an equal weight rating and a $214.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $195.95.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

FANG opened at $201.15 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $35.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $188.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.98. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $123.41 and a 1 year high of $211.96.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 18.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a $3.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.12%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $384,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,532,416. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $384,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 96,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,532,416. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,797 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,655 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.5% in the third quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.