Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Raised to Strong-Buy at Freedom Capital

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) was upgraded by stock analysts at Freedom Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

FANG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $169.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $173.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, January 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $194.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $194.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $191.67.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Diamondback Energy stock traded up $3.64 on Tuesday, reaching $180.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,339,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,721,432. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $50.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $163.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.16. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $186.65.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.67 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total value of $11,586,450.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,310,684.24. This represents a 17.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 60,605 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.12, for a total value of $9,764,677.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 982,006 shares in the company, valued at $158,220,806.72. The trade was a 5.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,168,462 shares of company stock valued at $192,197,747 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,239,837 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $487,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379,010 shares during the period. EnCap Energy Capital Fund XII L.P. acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $169,342,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $144,775,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 38.0% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $543,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,398 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $112,198,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.