BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Trims Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• BI Asset Management cut its Diamondback Energy stake by 85.7% in the first quarter, leaving it with 1,886 shares worth about $373,000.
• Insider selling continued, with director Charles Alvin Meloy selling 83,334 shares and director Mark Lawrence Plaumann selling 500 shares; insiders sold 121,548 shares total last quarter.
• Diamondback Energy beat quarterly earnings expectations, posting $4.23 EPS on $4.24 billion in revenue, while analysts maintain a Buy consensus with an average price target of $221.37.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S reduced its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 85.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,886 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 11,324 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $821,649,000 after acquiring an additional 163,548 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,621,120 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $844,073,000 after purchasing an additional 14,625 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,159,365 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $775,607,000 after purchasing an additional 532,756 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $651,363,000 after purchasing an additional 534,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,828,941 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $575,605,000 after purchasing an additional 117,798 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 851,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,338,293.60. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 121,548 shares of company stock worth $23,146,460 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on FANG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Truist Financial set a $242.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Susquehanna raised 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. Benchmark lowered shares of Diamondback Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $221.37.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ FANG opened at $182.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 212.27 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's 50-day moving average is $194.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.57. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is 511.63%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FANG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report).

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.