Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) Shares Down 7.2% – Should You Sell?

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) dropped 7.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $174.46 and last traded at $173.2060. Approximately 294,843 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 2,940,288 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.65.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FANG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $204.14.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 3.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $50.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $161.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $1.05 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 74.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $1,130,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $844,561.40. This trade represents a 57.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 4,101 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.51, for a total transaction of $781,281.51. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 56,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,743,239.92. This trade represents a 6.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,217,069 shares of company stock worth $201,213,109. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 274 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 19,719 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,822,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,030 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,435,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Townsend & Associates Inc increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 14,330 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

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.