Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Rating Increased to Buy at Bank of America

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $170.00 price objective on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.35% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $166.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “reduce” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.00.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $137.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $40.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.89, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. Diamondback Energy has a 1-year low of $114.00 and a 1-year high of $214.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $144.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $162.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. On average, research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Frank D. Tsuru bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $156.51 per share, with a total value of $313,020.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at $896,802.30. This represents a 53.62 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,496,859,000 after purchasing an additional 928,429 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,169,742 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $849,202,000 after purchasing an additional 571,820 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,165 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $769,706,000 after purchasing an additional 91,605 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,163,070 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $682,036,000 after purchasing an additional 502,916 shares during the period. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 5.3% during the first quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,102,785 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $655,953,000 after purchasing an additional 208,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.