Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Diamondback Energy from strong-buy to hold, despite several other analysts maintaining bullish views and an average consensus rating of Moderate Buy.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $4.23 versus $3.74 expected and revenue of $4.24 billion versus $3.83 billion expected.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, with executives including Matt Zmigrosky and Teresa L. Dick trimming holdings, while institutional investors still own about 90% of the stock.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on FANG. Roth Mkm reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $223.26.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG opened at $191.48 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $195.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.79. Diamondback Energy has a 12-month low of $133.75 and a 12-month high of $214.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 222.65 and a beta of 0.46.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.54 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Diamondback Energy will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $1,000,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,283,539.20. This represents a 8.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.00, for a total value of $1,035,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 92,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,200,285. The trade was a 5.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 174,321 shares of company stock worth $32,090,475 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 117,733 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $16,848,000 after acquiring an additional 10,289 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $472,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 256,638 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $36,725,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 354,481 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $50,726,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,312,413 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $187,806,000 after acquiring an additional 258,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.

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