Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Sunday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FANG. Barclays raised Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $210.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “sector outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Johnson Rice downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.65.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG traded up $0.74 on Friday, reaching $176.57. The company had a trading volume of 55,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,752,015. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $145.70 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.68.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 16.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FANG. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 67.1% during the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 3.0% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,907 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 1,859 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,821 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.4% in the third quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,817 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.