Mark Lawrence Plaumann Sells 500 Shares of Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock

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

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

FANG stock opened at $191.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $195.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.25. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $134.30 and a fifty-two week high of $214.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.90 billion, a PE ratio of 222.78 and a beta of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast 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. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 511.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 245.1% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp lifted their target price 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. Zacks Research lowered shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $242.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus 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.