Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Sells $98,250.00 in Stock

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $192.13 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.30 and a 52 week 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 stock has a market cap of $54.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 223.41 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $195.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.36.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.54 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.92 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $1.10 dividend. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FANG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $202.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.63.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 500.9% in the first quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 12,985 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,568,000 after acquiring an additional 10,824 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 10.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 15,945 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,154,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 1.4% during the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,944 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $370,000. Finally, BankChampaign National Association bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $413,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.