Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Decreases Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lessened its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 50.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,064 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 64,518 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $10,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Demars Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $638,050,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $298,327,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $185,193,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 1,153.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,132,918 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $185,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,496,859,000 after purchasing an additional 928,429 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on FANG shares. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $194.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $179.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup upgraded Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $161.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $194.09.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:FANG traded down $0.82 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $141.13. The company had a trading volume of 2,291,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,137,172. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year high of $214.50. The company has a market cap of $41.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.25 and a 200 day moving average of $158.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.87. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.58 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The company's revenue was up 81.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is 24.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frank D. Tsuru bought 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.51 per share, with a total value of $313,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at $896,802.30. This trade represents a 53.62% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van't sold 10,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.69, for a total value of $1,426,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 120,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,214,835.05. This represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico.