Insider Selling: Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) EVP Sells $1,002,700.00 in Stock

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total transaction of $1,002,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,392 shares in the company, valued at $9,303,451.68. This trade represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Matt Zmigrosky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 13th, Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $1,000,500.00.
• On Wednesday, March 18th, Matt Zmigrosky sold 4,101 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.51, for a total transaction of $781,281.51.
• On Friday, March 13th, Matt Zmigrosky sold 20,899 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $3,761,820.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $202.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $196.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $57.09 billion, a PE ratio of 235.98 and a beta of 0.42. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $134.30 and a 52-week high of $214.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.54 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.54 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 511.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FANG. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Four 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.26.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,239,837 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $487,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379,010 shares during the period. EnCap Energy Capital Fund XII L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $169,342,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the second quarter valued at about $144,775,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.0% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $543,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $112,198,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.