Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Raises Dividend to $1.05 Per Share

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 1.05 per share by the oil and natural gas company on Thursday, March 12th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This is a 5.0% increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00.

Diamondback Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 0.6%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 7 consecutive years. Diamondback Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 30.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Diamondback Energy to earn $15.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.6%.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Diamondback Energy stock traded down $3.53 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $170.29. 569,939 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,070,521. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.00. The firm has a market cap of $48.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. Diamondback Energy has a 52 week low of $114.00 and a 52 week high of $177.25.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 27.32% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FANG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $174.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $169.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $173.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $180.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $186.43.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: FANG) is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub‑basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback’s activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.