Ninety One UK Ltd Purchases 29,672 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 35.7% in Q4, buying 29,672 shares to own 112,736 shares worth about $16.95 million at quarter-end.
• Corporate insiders have been net sellers, offloading 1,217,069 shares worth $201.2 million in the last quarter (notably director Charles Alvin Meloy and EVP Matt Zmigrosky), leaving insiders with just 0.70% ownership.
• Equity analysts are largely positive on FANG with a consensus "Buy" rating and a $204.14 average price target, while several firms have raised targets (Raymond James to $240, Mizuho to $220, KeyCorp to $225).

Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,736 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 29,672 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $16,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moran Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,596 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $7,155,000 after purchasing an additional 15,119 shares in the last quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 15,854 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,952 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 9,244 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,390,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,184 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 60,605 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.12, for a total value of $9,764,677.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 982,006 shares of the company's stock, valued at $158,220,806.72. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 20,899 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $3,761,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 60,493 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,888,740. This trade represents a 25.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,217,069 shares of company stock worth $201,213,109. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $173.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.14.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $180.27 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $182.58 and a 200-day moving average of $161.07. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $127.75 and a one year high of $204.91. The company has a market cap of $50.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. The business's revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a $1.05 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $4.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is 74.87%.

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.

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