Raymond James Financial Raises Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $240.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at Raymond James Financial from $210.00 to $240.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “strong-buy” rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Raymond James Financial’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 27.98% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $173.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $182.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $194.71.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 2.9%

FANG traded up $5.21 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $187.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,089,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,754,984. The company has a market capitalization of $52.75 billion, a PE ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 0.59. Diamondback Energy has a one year low of $114.00 and a one year high of $188.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $164.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Fang Holdings Lp Sgf sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.88, for a total value of $162,880,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 98,686,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,074,094,093.76. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 982,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $158,220,806.72. This represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,168,462 shares of company stock valued at $192,197,747. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 493,958 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $74,257,000 after acquiring an additional 129,603 shares in the last quarter. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth $377,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 38,871 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $5,844,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 338,577 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $50,890,000 after purchasing an additional 47,450 shares during the period. Finally, Tulsa Wealth Advisors INC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $973,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.