Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Steven West Sells 6,000 Shares

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Steven West sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $1,130,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,484 shares in the company, valued at $844,561.40. The trade was a 57.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG stock opened at $190.31 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year high of $193.75. The company has a market cap of $53.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $167.53 and a 200 day moving average of $153.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on FANG. Scotiabank set a $175.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a report on Friday, January 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $183.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.43.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 274 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 19,719 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,822,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,030 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 3.0% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Townsend & Associates Inc raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 14,330 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,161,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Diamondback Energy

Here are the key news stories impacting Diamondback Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broad analyst support — Market sentiment is bullish after 26 covering analysts average a “Buy” rating for Diamondback, reinforcing investor confidence and helping lift the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Citi reiterates its Buy rating — Citi stuck with its buy call this week, providing another institutional endorsement that likely supported the rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade drove a 52‑week high — Recent upgrades pushed FANG to a new 52‑week high, which can attract momentum traders and funds tracking outperformers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data shows anomalies — Reported short interest was shown as zero (data appears inconsistent), so there’s no clear short-squeeze pressure signaled by the figures. (Reported volume-based ratio also reads as 0.0 days.)
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on insider selling — A MarketBeat roundup highlighted insider sales across several names including FANG; these write-ups are informational but don’t on their own prove negative insider intent. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insider sales disclosed — Several officers and a director sold shares this week (Steven E. West, Teresa L. Dick, EVP Matt Zmigrosky among others), representing meaningful reductions in individual holdings and potentially weighing on sentiment. See SEC filings and coverage of Zmigrosky’s larger sale for details. Read More. Read More.

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.