Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $201.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, June 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.35.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of FANG stock opened at $192.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $34.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.90. Diamondback Energy has a 52 week low of $123.41 and a 52 week high of $211.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $197.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $179.28.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.10 EPS. Analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 19.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total value of $1,182,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,736,123.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total value of $1,182,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,736,123.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,900 shares of company stock worth $7,362,750 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,717 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 50,633 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,852,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 145.2% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 11,993 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after acquiring an additional 7,102 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 748.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 15,221 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 13,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 613.7% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,401 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,388,000 after acquiring an additional 13,243 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico.