Mizuho Lowers Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $207.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Mizuho from $219.00 to $207.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the oil and natural gas company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $233.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $182.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $227.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Diamondback Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.52.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FANG traded down $4.41 on Monday, hitting $158.93. The stock had a trading volume of 2,370,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,777,543. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $147.93 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The stock has a market cap of $46.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $179.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.92.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 16.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $852,872. This represents a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 368.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,784 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,687,000 after acquiring an additional 7,694 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 18.5% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 42,678 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $7,358,000 after purchasing an additional 6,672 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,618,560 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $793,611,000 after purchasing an additional 266,299 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 11,978 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $2,065,000 after buying an additional 3,008 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,464,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

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.