Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Shares Bought by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 32.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 460 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $79,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $603,038,000 after purchasing an additional 415,902 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 235.6% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,730,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $541,844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,900 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,690,181 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $538,547,000 after purchasing an additional 247,065 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 7.1% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,473,831 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $495,236,000 after acquiring an additional 164,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,282,557 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $456,930,000 after purchasing an additional 87,288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $232.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

FANG stock opened at $185.29 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $54.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.89. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.70 and a 1-year high of $214.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $182.15 and its 200-day moving average is $190.63.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.90 dividend. 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%.

About Diamondback Energy

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.