9,122 Shares in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Bought by ABC Arbitrage SA

Key Points

• ABC Arbitrage SA opened a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter, buying 9,122 shares valued at about $1.37 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive: several analysts raised price targets, and the stock now carries an average Buy rating with an average target price of $218.25.
• Diamondback reported better-than-expected quarterly results with EPS of $4.23 versus estimates of $3.74, and it also increased its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share.

ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 9,122 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock, valued at approximately $1,371,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 37.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,301,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 13.5% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 51,104 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $7,022,000 after acquiring an additional 6,069 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $7,194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 37.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 154,582 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $21,239,000 after acquiring an additional 41,866 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial set a $242.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Roth Mkm reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $224.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $218.25.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, CFO Jere W. Thompson III sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.47, for a total transaction of $136,852.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,644,838.25. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total value of $1,486,544.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 942,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $178,362,813.20. This trade represents a 0.83% 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 164,321 shares of company stock worth $30,054,975 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $196.15 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company's fifty day moving average is $189.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.35. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.20 and a 1-year high of $214.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 228.08 and a beta of 0.46.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.54 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.88 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be given a $1.10 dividend. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is currently 488.37%.

About Diamondback Energy

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.