Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Shares Down 1.3% Following Analyst Downgrade

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)’s share price fell 1.3% during trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $212.00 to $167.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Diamondback Energy traded as low as $143.82 and last traded at $144.66. 366,125 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 2,422,690 shares. The stock had previously closed at $146.55.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on FANG. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Williams Trading set a $190.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $227.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.92.

Insider Activity

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Frank D. Tsuru bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $156.51 per share, with a total value of $313,020.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $896,802.30. This trade represents a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FANG. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 10.3% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,695 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 433,607 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $74,754,000 after purchasing an additional 16,348 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.6% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,598 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 14,512 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.2% in the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 48,185 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $8,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $43.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $162.00 and a 200-day moving average of $171.85.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 25.32%.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.