Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 28,400 Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought 28,400 shares of Diamondback Energy in the first quarter, a position valued at about $5.6 million.
• The stock has seen continued institutional interest, with 90.01% of shares owned by institutional investors and hedge funds, while several major firms recently increased their stakes.
• Diamondback Energy reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, and also raised its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share from $1.05.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 28,400 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock, valued at approximately $5,617,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,239,837 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $487,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379,010 shares during the period. EnCap Energy Capital Fund XII L.P. acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth $169,342,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $144,775,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $543,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,398 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $112,198,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $179.91 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.30 and a 52 week high of $214.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company's fifty day moving average is $194.75 and its 200-day moving average is $177.59. The company has a market capitalization of $50.61 billion, a PE ratio of 209.20 and a beta of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.54 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a positive change from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $249.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Diamondback Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $221.37.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction of $1,002,700.00. Following the completion of 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 121,548 shares of company stock valued at $23,146,460 over the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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