Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $199.56 and last traded at $199.3760, with a volume of 535335 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $191.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $222.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $194.48.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.6%

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $55.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36 and a beta of 0.59.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 74.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $1,130,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,484 shares in the company, valued at $844,561.40. This trade represents a 57.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total transaction of $11,586,450.12. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at $55,310,684.24. The trade was a 17.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,209,212 shares of company stock valued at $199,689,401. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 24.3% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 51,405 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,063,000 after purchasing an additional 10,061 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $523,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 578,699 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $79,513,000 after buying an additional 43,400 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 16,089 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,211,000 after buying an additional 2,381 shares during the period. Finally, Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 13.0% during the second quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 1,501 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.