Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the July 31st total of 5,270,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock traded down $7.63 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $187.48. The stock had a trading volume of 1,338,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,532,239. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.91. Diamondback Energy has a 1 year low of $143.08 and a 1 year high of $214.50. The company has a quick ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $33.44 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.90.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.51 by $0.01. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 37.51%. The company had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy will post 19.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $2.34 per share. This represents a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous None dividend of $2.26. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.29%.

Institutional Trading of Diamondback Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 38.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,609,143 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,706,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381,488 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 235.6% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,730,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $541,844,000 after buying an additional 1,916,900 shares in the last quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $87,940,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $603,038,000 after acquiring an additional 415,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 280.8% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 545,202 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $109,144,000 after acquiring an additional 402,026 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $249.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $247.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $255.00 to $245.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.85.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.