The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes $26.51 Million Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 150,826 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,512,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 264.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $216.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Roth Capital set a $212.00 price target on Diamondback Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Susquehanna upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.21.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

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

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.89 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 20.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the business’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. The trade was a 9.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 129,167 shares of company stock worth $24,714,309 over the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.