Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon reduced its Diamondback Energy stake by 23.6% in Q1, selling 1.22 million shares and ending with 3.94 million shares worth about $779.4 million.
• Insider selling continued, with EVP Matt Zmigrosky and Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann both trimming holdings; insiders sold 113,691 shares worth $21.6 million over the last 90 days.
• Diamondback reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting $4.23 EPS on $4.24 billion in revenue, and it raised its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share from $1.05.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 23.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,940,755 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 1,218,610 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.40% of Diamondback Energy worth $779,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 33.1% in the 1st quarter. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC now owns 113,489 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $22,447,000 after buying an additional 28,246 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 7.4% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,300 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 51.7% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,515 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 14.2% in the first quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 42,069 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $8,321,000 after acquiring an additional 5,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 17.1% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,392 shares in the company, valued at $9,303,451.68. This trade represents a 9.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,640,370.50. The trade was a 3.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 113,691 shares of company stock valued at $21,622,752. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on FANG shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Roth Capital set a $212.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Four equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $219.53.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG stock opened at $190.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 221.08 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm's 50 day moving average is $191.10 and its 200 day moving average is $180.67. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.30 and a 12 month high of $214.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. Diamondback Energy's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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