Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $220.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 9.00% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on FANG. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $182.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Benchmark lowered shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $173.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $196.81.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of FANG opened at $201.84 on Friday. Diamondback Energy has a one year low of $114.00 and a one year high of $204.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $173.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.42. The company has a market capitalization of $56.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98 and a beta of 0.59.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $1,130,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $844,561.40. This trade represents a 57.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 5,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 107,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,473,450. This trade represents a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,209,212 shares of company stock valued at $199,689,401 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $360,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 13,640.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,633 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,247,000 after buying an additional 23,461 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 403.8% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 10,438 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,434,000 after buying an additional 8,366 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 5.1% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 244,839 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $33,641,000 after buying an additional 11,770 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 1.3% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 7,539 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

About Diamondback Energy

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.