Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $220.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 8.57% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on FANG. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $194.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Scotiabank set a $175.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $222.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $196.81.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of FANG traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $202.64. The stock had a trading volume of 1,595,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,807,547. The firm has a market cap of $57.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.18 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.32. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $204.91. 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 (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 60,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.12, for a total transaction of $9,764,677.60. Following 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 20,899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $3,761,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 60,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,888,740. The trade was a 25.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,209,212 shares of company stock worth $199,689,401. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 245.1% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 264.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. 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.