Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Declares None Dividend of $2.34

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) announced a None dividend on Monday, August 5th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of 2.34 per share by the oil and natural gas company on Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous None dividend of $2.26.

Diamondback Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 29.8% annually over the last three years. Diamondback Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 17.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Diamondback Energy to earn $20.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.2%.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ FANG traded up $0.43 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $196.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 357,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,562,931. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $198.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.26. The firm has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. 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 earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.51 by $0.01. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total transaction of $1,182,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,677 shares in the company, valued at $13,736,123.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Diamondback Energy from $243.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $257.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $255.00 to $245.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.20.

About Diamondback Energy

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.