Artemis Investment Management LLP Acquires New Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 31,858 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock, valued at approximately $5,093,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 100,570 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $16,079,000 after purchasing an additional 15,988 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 72.4% during the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 11,345 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,764 shares during the last quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $320,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 36,177 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $5,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Security National Bank grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Security National Bank now owns 28,617 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $4,575,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, 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 transaction of $1,426,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 120,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,214,835.05. This trade represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $207.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $193.13.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $139.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,781,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,271,139. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $139.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $40.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 1.06. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.00 and a 12-month high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.87. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 30.84% and a return on equity of 11.22%. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.50 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy's revenue was up 81.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is currently 24.46%.

Diamondback Energy Profile

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.