StockNews.com Upgrades Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) to “Hold”

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

FANG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $185.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “sector outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.64.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $179.91 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $53.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $181.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.96. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $145.70 and a fifty-two week high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 3.64.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 178.1% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,532 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $6,112,000 after purchasing an additional 19,552 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 11,978 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after buying an additional 3,008 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2,768.9% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,332 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 4,181 shares during the period. Homestead Advisers Corp acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the first quarter valued at $87,940,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the first quarter valued at about $40,533,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.