L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Lowers Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP cut its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 23.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,762 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 825 shares during the quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.1% during the first quarter. Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC now owns 3,559 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 5.6% during the first quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,414 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the first quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,779 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 65.0% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 203 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Biondo Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the first quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,858 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $4,614,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FANG shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, August 25th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $213.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $180.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $192.64.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 3.3%

NASDAQ FANG opened at $144.21 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.33. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.00 and a 52 week high of $197.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $41.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.04.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.72 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 27.25% and a return on equity of 9.48%. The company’s revenue was up 48.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.43%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 20,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.80, for a total value of $2,913,120.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 102,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,586,306. This represents a 16.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.