Insider Selling: Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Sells 500 Shares of Stock

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,640,370.50. This represents a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG stock traded up $2.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $196.55. 2,725,871 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,828,338. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.30 and a 1 year 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 228.55 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $195.84 and its 200 day moving average is $174.57.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.54 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 511.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 245.1% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $202.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Four 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. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.63.

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.