Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Director Charles Alvin Meloy Sells 7,857 Shares

Key Points

• Insider sale: Diamondback Energy director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares on May 7 at an average price of $189.20, generating about $1.49 million. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
• Strong quarterly results: The company reported EPS of $4.23 for the quarter, beating analyst estimates of $3.74, and revenue of $4.24 billion, also above expectations. Revenue rose 4.7% year over year.
• Dividend and outlook: Diamondback increased its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share, up from $1.05, and analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $218.25.

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total value of $1,486,544.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 942,721 shares in the company, valued at $178,362,813.20. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, 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 value of $1,523,708.01.
• On Monday, March 9th, Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.27, for a total value of $1,439,952.39.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FANG traded up $7.45 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $196.15. The stock had a trading volume of 2,288,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,955,176. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.63. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.20 and a 12-month high of $214.51. The stock has a market cap of $55.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 228.08 and a beta of 0.46.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.54 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is 488.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the first quarter worth about $428,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 355.3% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,296 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $5,794,000 after purchasing an additional 22,862 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 12.1% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,348 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $860,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 10.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 15,945 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $3,154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S&CO Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the first quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 32,200 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $6,368,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Mizuho raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $218.25.

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.

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