Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Shares Bought by National Pension Service

Key Points

• National Pension Service increased its Diamondback Energy stake by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, ending with 381,710 shares valued at about $57.4 million.
• Insider selling continued, with Director Charles Alvin Meloy and Chairman Travis D. Stice both selling shares; insiders sold 174,321 shares worth roughly $32.1 million over the last three months.
• Diamondback beat quarterly earnings expectations with $4.23 EPS versus $3.74 expected, and it raised its dividend to $1.10 per share from $1.05.

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 381,710 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 27,229 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.13% of Diamondback Energy worth $57,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 245.1% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 264.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.27, for a total transaction of $1,439,952.39. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 974,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $178,532,287.23. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total transaction of $11,586,450.12. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at $55,310,684.24. The trade was a 17.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 174,321 shares of company stock valued at $32,090,475 in the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial set a $242.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. 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 report on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Roth Mkm reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $223.26.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $191.48 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $195.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $171.79. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $133.75 and a fifty-two week high of $214.51. The company has a market cap of $53.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 222.65 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.54 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.54 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is presently 511.63%.

Diamondback Energy 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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