Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock Price

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Citigroup from $221.00 to $220.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.58% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Roth Capital set a $212.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research cut Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Sunday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $222.30.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG traded up $7.37 during trading on Monday, reaching $195.41. 245,590 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,659,522. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $190.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.03. The firm has a market cap of $54.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.08 and a beta of 0.43. Diamondback Energy has a 12-month low of $134.30 and a 12-month high of $214.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.08 by $0.40. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 19.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,303,451.68. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.41, for a total transaction of $6,613,600.53. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 818,197 shares in the company, valued at $162,338,466.77. This trade represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 139,167 shares of company stock valued at $26,749,809 over the last ninety days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,303,362,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $821,649,000 after buying an additional 163,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,621,120 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $844,073,000 after acquiring an additional 14,625 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,159,365 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $775,607,000 after acquiring an additional 532,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $651,363,000 after buying an additional 534,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.