Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 936,480 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 82.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 196,438 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 936,480 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.07% of Diamondback Energy worth $31,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,675 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,238 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 21,040 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $3,447,000 after buying an additional 4,529 shares during the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 20,388 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $3,303,000 after buying an additional 1,990 shares during the last quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 8,828 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,446,000 after buying an additional 1,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boothe Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Boothe Investment Group Inc. now owns 20,097 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $3,292,000 after buying an additional 5,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ FANG traded up $5.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $154.91. 5,206,181 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,217,371. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87, a PEG ratio of 1.24 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $136.99 and a 200-day moving average of $152.50.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.87. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.50 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 81.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is 24.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Friday, May 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $207.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $193.09.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van't sold 10,000 shares of the 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Company 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.