746,343 Shares in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Purchased by Encompass Capital Advisors LLC

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 746,343 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,198,000. Diamondback Energy accounts for approximately 4.6% of Encompass Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 245.1% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 264.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.63.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total transaction of $15,593,458.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,338,293.60. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $1,000,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 51,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,283,539.20. This represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 121,548 shares of company stock valued at $23,146,460 over the last quarter. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 1.4%

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $185.48 on Thursday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.30 and a twelve month high of $214.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $195.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.39. The company has a market capitalization of $52.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 215.68 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.92 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

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.