Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 692,486 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 312,723 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $99,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,325,287 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,204,894,000 after purchasing an additional 388,512 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,569,990 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $766,914,000 after buying an additional 151,150 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 2.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,441,649 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $746,526,000 after buying an additional 142,649 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,355,480 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $337,078,000 after buying an additional 198,919 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.2% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,952,276 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $268,243,000 after buying an additional 164,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Fang Holdings Lp Sgf sold 1,000,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.88, for a total value of $162,880,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 98,686,727 shares in the company, valued at $16,074,094,093.76. The trade was a 1.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 60,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.12, for a total transaction of $9,764,677.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 982,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $158,220,806.72. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FANG shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $169.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $218.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Diamondback Energy from $182.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $194.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $182.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $51.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.60 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.57. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.00 and a 12-month high of $186.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.87%.

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.