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

Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $204.68, but opened at $197.08. Diamondback Energy shares last traded at $200.69, with a volume of 130,513 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FANG shares. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Roth Capital set a $212.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $218.68.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $190.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $53.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 221.28 and a beta of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.54 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Diamondback Energy news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,392 shares in the company, valued at $9,303,451.68. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total transaction of $15,593,458.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,338,293.60. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752 in the last quarter. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 245.1% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.