Insider Selling: Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Sells $15,593,458.08 in Stock

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 851,530 shares in the company, valued at $159,338,293.60. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Thursday, May 7th, Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total transaction of $1,486,544.40.
• On Monday, April 6th, Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.93, for a total transaction of $1,523,708.01.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $183.50 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56. 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 $51.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 213.37 and a beta of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted 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. 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 posted $4.54 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were 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 yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 511.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on FANG. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $202.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $249.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Four equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.63.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 245.1% during the 4th 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. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.