Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Benchmark

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $195.00 price target on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.96% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays raised shares of Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $185.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.09.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG traded up $0.77 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $178.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 268,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,721,172. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $184.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 3.64 and a current ratio of 3.66. The company has a market cap of $31.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.89. Diamondback Energy has a 12-month low of $145.70 and a 12-month high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.51% and a return on equity of 19.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 17.37 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at $181,732,485.09. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $233,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,980 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,176,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 429,164 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $85,047,000 after acquiring an additional 3,582 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 721 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $3,095,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.