Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 10.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,452 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 7,018 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $8,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,270,639 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,544,979,000 after buying an additional 97,283 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,572,083 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $488,590,000 after buying an additional 85,618 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 11,878.0% during the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 2,032,903 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $278,060,000 after buying an additional 2,015,931 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 33.1% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,861,667 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $251,642,000 after buying an additional 463,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,708,899 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $233,725,000 after buying an additional 170,829 shares during the last quarter. 87.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

FANG opened at $151.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $141.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $110.97 and a 52 week high of $168.95. The company has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a PE ratio of 7.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 31st. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.92 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 41.62% and a return on equity of 22.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.07 EPS. Analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 17.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 10th were given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 9th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.44%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.51, for a total transaction of $397,530.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 65,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,719,423.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.51, for a total transaction of $397,530.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 65,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,719,423.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.68, for a total transaction of $598,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 61,802 shares in the company, valued at $9,250,523.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,912 shares of company stock worth $6,938,458. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FANG. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $159.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $178.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $154.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.13.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, exploration, and exploitation of unconventional and 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.