Evercore ISI Raises Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $175.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective hoisted by investment analysts at Evercore ISI from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.52% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $213.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $221.00 to $212.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.55.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $148.91 on Monday. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year high of $197.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average is $142.76 and its 200 day moving average is $141.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 1.04.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.72 by ($0.05). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 27.25% and a return on equity of 9.48%. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.52 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 48.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side 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, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 20,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.80, for a total transaction of $2,913,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 102,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,586,306. The trade was a 16.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FANG. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $230,039,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $144,775,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $77,622,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 27.3% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,950,160 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $311,792,000 after acquiring an additional 418,431 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,325,287 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,204,894,000 after acquiring an additional 388,512 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.