Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Short Interest Down 6.4% in March

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

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG stock traded down $1.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $203.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,330,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,771,830. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Diamondback Energy has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $211.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.40. The firm has a market cap of $36.37 billion, a PE ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 1.93.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy will post 18.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a $3.08 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $12.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.04%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.94, for a total transaction of $969,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,445 shares in the company, valued at $8,619,663.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096 in the last ninety days. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MCF Advisors LLC raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 60.2% during the first quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Reliant Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the first quarter worth about $254,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 27.1% during the first quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,260 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 25.8% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,730 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 0.7% during the first quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 31,037 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $6,151,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on FANG shares. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank Of America (Bofa) dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $147.00 to $129.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $192.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.95.

About Diamondback Energy

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.