Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Decreases Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Varma reduced its stake: Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co sold 6,000 shares in Q4 (a 5.6% cut) and now holds 101,899 Diamondback shares worth about $15.32 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Strong operational results and shareholder returns: Diamondback beat Q1 estimates (revenue $4.24B, EPS $4.23), raised 2026 production guidance and increased the quarterly dividend to $1.10.
• Caveats — impairment and insider activity: The company took a $1.40B non‑cash impairment that lowered reported net income to roughly $25M, and insiders sold about 156,464 shares (~$28.6M) in the past 90 days while institutions own ~90% of the stock.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co reduced its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,899 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 6,000 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $15,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $821,649,000 after buying an additional 163,548 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.0% in the third 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 buying an additional 1,046,398 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,120,359 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $446,523,000 after buying an additional 274,331 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.2% in the third 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 buying an additional 198,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.2% in the second 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 buying an additional 164,293 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Diamondback Energy

Here are the key news stories impacting Diamondback Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations — revenue of $4.24B and EPS of $4.23 topped Street estimates, showing production and pricing strength. Shale producer Diamondback Energy beats first-quarter profit estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised 2026 production guidance and is immediately boosting shale crude output to capture higher prices — this suggests higher near‑term volumes and stronger cash flow. Diamondback Energy Lifts Production Guidance After Strong Q1
• Positive Sentiment: Board increased the quarterly cash dividend to $1.10 (4.8% q/q increase; ~2.1% yield), reinforcing shareholder-return focus and management confidence in cash generation. Diamondback Energy Announces First Quarter 2026 Results and Increases Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media attention (Zacks, Yahoo, FinancialPost) highlight Diamondback as a leading Permian/Permian‑exposed name — increased coverage can amplify moves but doesn’t guarantee direction. The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Diamondback Energy
• Negative Sentiment: Company took a large $1.40B impairment on oil & gas properties that pushed reported net income down to ~$25M — a significant non‑cash hit that reduced headline profitability and complicates YoY EPS comparisons. Diamondback Energy Is Up 8.8% After Raising 2026 Output Guidance And Dividend

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on FANG. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $242.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price 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. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.93, for a total value of $1,523,708.01. Following the sale, the director directly owned 958,435 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $185,869,299.55. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $950,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 107,755 shares in the company, valued at $20,473,450. This trade represents a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,464 shares of company stock worth $28,568,431. Insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of FANG stock opened at $213.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm's 50-day moving average is $187.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.43. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.75 and a 12 month high of $214.51. The company has a market capitalization of $60.11 billion, a PE ratio of 38.09 and a beta of 0.46.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.54 EPS. Analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be paid a $1.10 dividend. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is presently 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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