Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Sees Large Volume Increase After Analyst Upgrade

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday after Freedom Capital upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. Approximately 3,515,707 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 39% from the previous session’s volume of 2,532,680 shares.The stock last traded at $174.3060 and had previously closed at $178.37.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on FANG. Scotiabank set a $175.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $194.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Benchmark cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $169.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $191.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 60,605 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.12, for a total transaction of $9,764,677.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 982,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $158,220,806.72. This represents a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total transaction of $11,586,450.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 305,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,310,684.24. The trade was a 17.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,168,462 shares of company stock valued at $192,197,747. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FANG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,325,287 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,204,894,000 after acquiring an additional 388,512 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $821,649,000 after purchasing an additional 163,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,621,120 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $844,073,000 after purchasing an additional 14,625 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,159,365 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $775,607,000 after purchasing an additional 532,756 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $651,363,000 after purchasing an additional 534,073 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $163.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $152.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $50.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.87 and a beta of 0.59.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.67 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.87%.

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.