Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,820 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,904 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Diamondback Energy worth $42,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 245.1% during the 4th 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 acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $195.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.78. The stock has a market cap of $55.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 227.37 and a beta of 0.42. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $134.30 and a 12-month high of $214.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $1.10 dividend. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 511.63%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total transaction of $1,406,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 85,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,228,179.50. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,691 shares of company stock valued at $21,622,752. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $219.53.

Diamondback Energy 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.