Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on FANG. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $202.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $178.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $182.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $208.05.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.2%

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $205.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $57.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.65 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $127.75 and a 1 year high of $206.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $187.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.12.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 19.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 4,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.51, for a total value of $781,281.51. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 56,392 shares in the company, valued at $10,743,239.92. The trade was a 6.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 107,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,473,450. This trade represents a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,217,069 shares of company stock worth $201,213,109. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 37.5% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,726 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy during the second quarter valued at $2,301,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 13.5% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 51,104 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,022,000 after acquiring an additional 6,069 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 8.5% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 52,355 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,194,000 after acquiring an additional 4,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 37.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 154,582 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $21,239,000 after acquiring an additional 41,866 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: FANG) is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub‑basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback’s activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.