Diamondback Energy’s (FANG) “Equal Weight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $216.00 price objective on the oil and natural gas company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on FANG. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $246.00 to $243.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Diamondback Energy from $232.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.21.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG stock opened at $210.72 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $191.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.22. The company has a market capitalization of $59.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.08 and a beta of 0.43. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $134.30 and a 52-week high of $216.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.89 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 19.78 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,392 shares in the company, valued at $9,303,451.68. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 129,167 shares of company stock valued at $24,714,309. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 37.5% during the 2nd 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 period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the second quarter valued at $2,301,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 13.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,069 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 52,355 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,194,000 after buying an additional 4,103 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 37.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 154,582 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $21,239,000 after buying an additional 41,866 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.