Diamondback Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:FANG)

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 5,205 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 48% compared to the average daily volume of 3,527 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FANG. Roth Capital set a $162.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $174.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $222.00 to $219.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $188.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 377,911 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.61, for a total transaction of $52,382,243.71. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,044,864 shares in the company, valued at $144,828,599.04. The trade was a 26.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth $26,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 106.3% during the 3rd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the period. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $147.47 on Thursday. Diamondback Energy has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $180.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $148.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.90. The company has a market capitalization of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 0.63.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.94 by $0.14. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 27.32% and a return on equity of 9.57%. The company had revenue of $3.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 48.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.80%.

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.