Comerica Bank Sells 32,546 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Comerica Bank trimmed its stake in Diamondback Energy by 46.2%, selling 32,546 shares in Q4 and leaving 37,910 shares valued at about $5.7 million.
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently: EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 20,899 shares at $180, Fang Holdings LP sold 1,000,000 shares at $162.88, and insiders have sold 1,217,069 shares worth roughly $201.2 million over the past 90 days.
• Despite sales, Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive with a consensus "Buy" rating and an average price target of $208.05 for the stock.

Comerica Bank reduced its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 46.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,910 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 32,546 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $5,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FANG. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $821,649,000 after acquiring an additional 163,548 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $543,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,398 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,120,359 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $446,523,000 after acquiring an additional 274,331 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,355,480 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $337,078,000 after acquiring an additional 198,919 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,952,276 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $268,243,000 after acquiring an additional 164,293 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $242.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $173.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, January 19th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Roth Mkm reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $200.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $182.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $208.05.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other news, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 20,899 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $3,761,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 60,493 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,888,740. This trade represents a 25.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Fang Holdings Lp Sgf sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.88, for a total transaction of $162,880,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 98,686,727 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,074,094,093.76. This represents a 1.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,217,069 shares of company stock worth $201,213,109. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of FANG stock opened at $205.63 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $187.42 and a 200-day moving average of $164.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.75 and a 12-month high of $206.90. The company has a market capitalization of $57.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.65 and a beta of 0.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.87%.

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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