Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Coverage Initiated at The Goldman Sachs Group

Equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) in a note issued to investors on Monday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $227.00 price target on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 29.15% from the stock’s current price.

FANG has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $215.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.65.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $175.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $51.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $181.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.53. Diamondback Energy has a 1-year low of $145.70 and a 1-year high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.49 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 16.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,858,555 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,044,415,000 after purchasing an additional 149,871 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 6.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,618,560 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $793,611,000 after purchasing an additional 266,299 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $603,038,000 after purchasing an additional 415,902 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,704,520 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $466,259,000 after purchasing an additional 230,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 10.1% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,690,181 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $538,547,000 after purchasing an additional 247,065 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.