Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Buys New Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 608 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 67.1% during the second quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 99.2% during the second quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 251 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,712 shares in the company, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $247.00 to $223.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG stock opened at $185.29 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $182.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $190.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $145.70 and a one year high of $214.50. The firm has a market cap of $54.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.37 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Diamondback Energy Company 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.