Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Downgraded by Johnson Rice to “Moderate Buy”

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

FANG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $237.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $154.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Barclays raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Diamondback Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, July 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $209.71.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $170.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52, 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.52. Diamondback Energy has a 52 week low of $143.08 and a 52 week high of $214.50.

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

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $2.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous None dividend of $2.26. This represents a dividend yield of 1.9%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.29%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 52.2% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,513 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 1,320.0% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 69,578 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $13,929,000 after acquiring an additional 64,678 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,062 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $966,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $10,229,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.