Short Interest in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Drops By 6.4%

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,160,000 shares, a decline of 6.4% from the March 15th total of 5,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Diamondback Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $214.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $250.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $222.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.95.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $201.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $188.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $166.98. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $123.41 and a 1 year high of $211.96. The company has a market cap of $35.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.93.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 37.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy will post 18.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a $3.08 dividend. This represents a $12.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.12%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.76%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total value of $1,153,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 78,218 shares in the company, valued at $15,031,153.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Founders Capital Management boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 404.0% in the first quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 126 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 232.8% in the fourth quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 213 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico.