Insider Selling: Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Sells 7,857 Shares of Stock

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total value of $1,486,544.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 942,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,362,813.20. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Charles Alvin Meloy also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 6th, Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.93, for a total value of $1,523,708.01.
• On Monday, March 9th, Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.27, for a total value of $1,439,952.39.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 3.9%

Shares of FANG traded up $7.45 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $196.15. The company had a trading volume of 2,288,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,955,176. The firm has a market cap of $55.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 228.08 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $188.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.20 and a 52-week high of $214.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.54 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.88 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 488.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FANG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark downgraded Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

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

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.