Diamondback Energy Stock Bounces off 52 Week Low, Gains Analyst Upgrade

Diamondback Energy's stock (NASDAQ: FANG) saw its rating uplifted from Neutral to Buy by Citi analyst Scott Gruber, sparking a decent boost for the bulls. The pre-market session sees FANG's shares gain 1.21%, after a 5 day period which has seen the stock shed 22% of it's market cap.

The stock did in fact hit a new 52 week low in yesterday's session, hitting $117.03 early in the trading day, before rallying somewhat into the close with an almost 7% intraday move from the low. Ending the day green, to the tune of 0.94% can be seen as a win for the bulls on a day that looked to be shaping up considerably worse.

This reclassification by Citi, along with a significant price target boost from $157 to $180, hails Diamondback Energy's exceptionally low break-even oil price of $36 per barrel—the lowest within Citi's coverage—as a defining attribute for the company's free cash generation ability even during times of suppressed crude prices.

Citi's endorsement stems from Diamondback's ability to sustain its operations and generate cash effortlessly even when the oil market is under the weather. It's this top-tier operational efficiency that lends the exploration and production company a competitive edge, especially notable given the current pricing environment for crude.

Headquartered in Midland, Texas, Diamondback Energy delineates its primary operations within the Oil & Gas E&P industry and the broader Energy sector. This independent entity dedicates itself to the procurement, development, and maximization of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas resources in the sediment-rich Permian Basin of West Texas .

Diamondback offers favourable dividends to its shareholders, realised through a dividend rate of $6.21 and an attractive yield of 5.03%, coupled with a payout ratio sustaining at 53.38%. The company boasts $10.56 billion in total revenue and a net income to common stockholders of $3.32 billion.

Institutional involvement constitutes a noteworthy segment of Diamondback Energy's investor base, with insiders holding 35.50% and institutions another 60.62%. Broader analyst sentiment on Diamondback paints a bullish picture, with a consensus target of $201 indicating perceived upside from here.

With markets still in a state of flux, and volatility raging across almost all sectors, there could well be further bumps in the road to come as the global economic picture becomes a little less hazy.