Insider Selling: Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) EVP Sells $969,700.00 in Stock

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.94, for a total transaction of $969,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,619,663.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $196.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.41 and a 12-month high of $198.12. The company has a market capitalization of $35.07 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $171.93 and its 200-day moving average is $161.65.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 17.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a $3.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $222.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) cut their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $147.00 to $129.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.21.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth $28,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 232.8% during the fourth quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 213 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Logan Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.