Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 30.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 828,190 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 363,703 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.28% of Diamondback Energy worth $135,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wintrust Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 247.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 940.0% in the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 208 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ FANG traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $136.53. 939,912 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,141,425. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $140.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $157.03. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.00 and a 12-month high of $214.50. The firm has a market cap of $39.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.82, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.87. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The company had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.50 EPS. Diamondback Energy's quarterly revenue was up 81.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FANG shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $161.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $194.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $193.09.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.51 per share, for a total transaction of $313,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896,802.30. This trade represents a 53.62% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van't sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was 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 owns 120,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,214,835.05. This trade represents a 7.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy 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.