Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Mirae Asset Global Investments increased its stake in Diamondback by 18.3% in Q4 to 139,308 shares, valued at approximately $20.94 million.
• Diamondback missed quarterly results (EPS $1.74 vs. $2.00 estimate; revenue slightly below expectations), but analysts remain largely positive with an average "Buy" rating and a $204.14 target price.
• Dividend raised to $1.05 quarterly (annualized $4.20, ~2.3% yield), while insiders have sold about 1.22 million shares (~$201.2 million) in the past 90 days and institutions own roughly 90% of the stock.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 139,308 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,575 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $20,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in 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 worth $821,649,000 after acquiring an additional 163,548 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in 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 worth $543,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,398 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $446,523,000 after acquiring an additional 274,331 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in 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 worth $337,078,000 after acquiring an additional 198,919 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $268,243,000 after acquiring an additional 164,293 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

FANG stock opened at $180.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $50.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13 and a beta of 0.50. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.75 and a 12-month high of $204.91. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $182.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.07.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business's revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given 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 2.3%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 74.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on FANG. Freedom Capital upgraded Diamondback Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $178.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $171.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $204.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $1,130,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,484 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $844,561.40. This represents a 57.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jere W. Thompson III sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.47, for a total value of $136,852.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,644,838.25. This represents a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,217,069 shares of company stock worth $201,213,109. 0.70% of the stock is owned by 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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