CI Investments Inc. Has $10.74 Million Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• CI Investments Inc. reduced its Diamondback Energy stake by 9.7% in the first quarter, ending with 54,287 shares valued at about $10.74 million.
• Diamondback Energy saw notable insider selling, including a director’s sale of 83,334 shares and an EVP’s sale of 5,000 shares; insiders sold 113,691 shares worth $21.6 million over the last 90 days.
• Analysts remain largely positive, with a Buy consensus and an average price target of $218.68; the company also beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share.

CI Investments Inc. trimmed its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 9.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,287 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 5,848 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc.'s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $10,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 274 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 19,719 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $2,822,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 14,330 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV now owns 3,584 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,725 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total transaction of $15,593,458.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 851,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $159,338,293.60. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,303,451.68. This trade represents a 9.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 113,691 shares of company stock valued at $21,622,752 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Diamondback Energy from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Four 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $218.68.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $203.02 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $191.29 and a 200-day moving average of $182.04. 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 company has a market capitalization of $57.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 236.07 and a beta of 0.42. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.30 and a 1 year high of $214.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.54 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio 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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