Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC Acquires 28,246 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates increased its Diamondback Energy stake by 33.1% in Q1, buying 28,246 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 113,489 shares worth about $22.4 million.
• Diamondback Energy reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue, with EPS of $4.23 versus the $3.74 consensus estimate and revenue of $4.24 billion, up 4.7% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share from $1.05, while analysts remain broadly positive with an average Buy rating and a $220.68 price target.

Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 33.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,489 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after buying an additional 28,246 shares during the period. Diamondback Energy accounts for about 1.2% of Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $22,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FANG. Boston Partners lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 163,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $844,073,000 after purchasing an additional 14,625 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in 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 worth $775,607,000 after purchasing an additional 532,756 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $651,363,000 after buying an additional 534,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $575,605,000 after buying an additional 117,798 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.5%

FANG stock opened at $189.76 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $191.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.37. The company has a market capitalization of $53.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 220.65 and a beta of 0.42. 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, 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 issued its 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. The firm 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 firm's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.17 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 511.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,640,370.50. This represents a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $9,303,451.68. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FANG shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $229.00 to $216.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $220.68.

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.