Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases New Shares in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 53,513 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,407,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,726 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,301,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 51,104 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,022,000 after acquiring an additional 6,069 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 52,355 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,194,000 after acquiring an additional 4,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 37.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 154,582 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $21,239,000 after acquiring an additional 41,866 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $200.52 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $192.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.44. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.30 and a 52 week high of $216.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $56.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.09 and a beta of 0.43.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.08 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 20.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 85.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total transaction of $1,406,300.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 85,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,228,179.50. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,338,293.60. The trade was a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,167 shares of company stock valued at $24,714,309. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on FANG. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $232.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research cut Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $248.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.21.

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.