Castleark Management LLC Invests $28.68 Million in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 145,020 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,684,000. Diamondback Energy comprises 1.0% of Castleark Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,640,370.50. The trade was a 3.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FANG shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.68.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $204.68 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $191.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.58 billion, a PE ratio of 238.00 and a beta of 0.42. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.30 and a 1 year high of $214.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

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.