Morgan Stanley Increases Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Price Target to $198.00

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $198.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the oil and natural gas company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.14% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on FANG. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $243.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Diamondback Energy from $255.00 to $245.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.86.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $179.77 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $32.06 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 3.64 and a current ratio of 3.66. Diamondback Energy has a 52-week low of $143.08 and a 52-week high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.51 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 37.51%. Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 19.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 50,633 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,852,000 after acquiring an additional 6,240 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 178.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,532 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $6,112,000 after purchasing an additional 19,552 shares during the period. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 78,990.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,909 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 7,899 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 92.8% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 13,031 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,021,000 after purchasing an additional 6,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1,842.5% during the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 4,390 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $681,000 after acquiring an additional 4,164 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, 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.