Roth Mkm Upgrades Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) to Strong-Buy

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Roth Mkm from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Sunday,Zacks.com reports.

FANG has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $249.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $221.37.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ FANG opened at $187.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.83 billion, a PE ratio of 218.37 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average of $195.06 and a 200 day moving average of $177.02. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $134.30 and a 1 year high of $214.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.54 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 19.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,640,370.50. This represents a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total value of $1,000,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 51,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,283,539.20. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 121,548 shares of company stock worth $23,146,460. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 245.1% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. 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.