Diamondback Energy’s (FANG) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $210.00 target price on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.56% from the stock’s current price.

FANG has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $212.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Raymond James upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $232.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.17.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

FANG stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $177.12. The stock had a trading volume of 450,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,875,127. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $147.93 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The firm has a market cap of $51.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $170.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.49 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1,153.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,132,918 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $185,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,505 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $87,924,000. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 95.3% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 938,474 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $161,793,000 after acquiring an additional 457,896 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 25.6% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,158,910 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $372,196,000 after acquiring an additional 439,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 17,151.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 340,021 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $58,620,000 after purchasing an additional 338,050 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.