Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock: Insider Charles Alvin Meloy Sells 33,333 Shares

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Charles Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.74, for a total transaction of $6,124,605.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 759,864 shares in the company, valued at $139,617,411.36. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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, August 3rd, Charles Meloy sold 33,333 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.41, for a total transaction of $6,613,600.53.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.3%

Diamondback Energy stock traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $184.38. The stock had a trading volume of 2,323,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,649,113. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.63 billion, a PE ratio of 35.94 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $197.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.47. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.03 and a fifty-two week high of $216.90.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.08 by $0.40. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 8.58%.The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 20.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on FANG. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $221.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Stephens set a $255.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $259.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $216.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.90.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,303,362,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 31.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,420,247 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,886,351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,918,943 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,562,224 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,208,188,000 after purchasing an additional 510,281 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $852,791,000. Finally, EnCap Energy Capital Fund XI L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. EnCap Energy Capital Fund XI L.P. now owns 2,896,632 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $435,451,000 after purchasing an additional 107,369 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Midland, Texas. The company focuses primarily on the acquisition, development, exploration and production of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

Diamondback’s operations are concentrated in the Midland and Delaware sub-basins, where it develops properties using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Its production includes crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.