Royal Bank Of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG)

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $240.00 price target on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 21.51% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $243.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 target price (up from $221.00) on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $259.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.50.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $197.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average is $196.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $194.19. Diamondback Energy has a 1-year low of $137.03 and a 1-year high of $216.90.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 20.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.74, for a total value of $6,124,605.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 759,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $139,617,411.36. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Travis Stice sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.31, for a total transaction of $15,323,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 49,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,159,723.37. This represents a 60.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 141,666 shares of company stock worth $28,061,456. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FANG. Reliant Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $237,000. Seelaus Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 2,378 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $971,000. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,758 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,345,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Womack Financial LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Womack Financial LLC now owns 2,984 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Midland, Texas. The company focuses primarily on the acquisition, development, exploration and production of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

Diamondback’s operations are concentrated in the Midland and Delaware sub-basins, where it develops properties using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Its production includes crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.