Sanford C. Bernstein Cuts Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $190.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its price objective reduced by Sanford C. Bernstein from $199.00 to $190.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.72% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $174.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $183.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $162.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $188.76.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $152.34 on Monday. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year high of $180.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.59 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $149.08 and its 200 day moving average is $144.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.14. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 9.57% and a net margin of 27.32%.The business had revenue of $3.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 48.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 377,911 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.61, for a total value of $52,382,243.71. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,044,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,828,599.04. This represents a 26.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,395 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 8.8% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,159 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter valued at $38,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,240,000. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 9,184 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,314,000 after buying an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.