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

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 5,205 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 48% compared to the average volume of 3,527 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 377,911 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.61, for a total transaction of $52,382,243.71. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,044,864 shares in the company, valued at $144,828,599.04. This trade represents a 26.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diamondback Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.3% during the second quarter. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC now owns 5,090 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during 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 buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,030 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Viawealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Viawealth LLC now owns 1,753 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $174.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Diamondback Energy to $188.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $222.00 to $219.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $188.76.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of FANG traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $146.70. The company had a trading volume of 268,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,218,020. The company has a market capitalization of $42.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Diamondback Energy has a one year low of $114.00 and a one year high of $180.91. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $147.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.88.

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

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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.