Guinness Asset Management LTD Reduces Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Guinness Asset Management LTD lessened its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 46,628 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 5,095 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $6,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 4.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,418,840 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $861,961,000 after acquiring an additional 249,098 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,257,247 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $680,649,000 after purchasing an additional 94,177 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,932,484 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $468,846,000 after purchasing an additional 114,930 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 27.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,950,160 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $311,792,000 after buying an additional 418,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $230,039,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FANG. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $211.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $173.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $221.00 to $212.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $189.91.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.9%

FANG opened at $145.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $142.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $141.03. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.00 and a 12 month high of $186.07.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.72 by ($0.05). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 27.25%.The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 48.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 20,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.80, for a total value of $2,913,120.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 102,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,586,306. This trade represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.