Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Stock Holdings Lifted by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 18.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 100,570 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,988 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $16,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,496,859,000 after purchasing an additional 928,429 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,169,742 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $849,202,000 after buying an additional 571,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,165 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $769,706,000 after acquiring an additional 91,605 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 4,102,785 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $655,953,000 after acquiring an additional 208,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,086,468 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $505,656,000 after acquiring an additional 345,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van't sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.69, for a total value of $1,426,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 120,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,214,835.05. This represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ FANG traded down $1.10 on Friday, hitting $139.77. 2,781,282 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,265,561. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $214.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 1.06. The company's 50 day moving average price is $139.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.94.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.87. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 30.84% and a return on equity of 11.22%. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.50 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 81.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is currently 24.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FANG. Barclays decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $175.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $161.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $193.13.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico.