Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Invests $268.86 Million in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,529,498 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $268,855,000. Diamondback Energy comprises 2.2% of Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FANG. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $821,649,000 after purchasing an additional 163,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,621,120 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $844,073,000 after buying an additional 14,625 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,159,365 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $775,607,000 after buying an additional 532,756 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $651,363,000 after buying an additional 534,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,828,941 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $575,605,000 after buying an additional 117,798 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Diamondback Energy from $246.00 to $243.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $221.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $248.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.30.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $202.47 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $56.70 billion, a PE ratio of 39.47 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.30 and a 52 week high of $214.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.74.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.08 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 8.58%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 13th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.77%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.41, for a total value of $6,613,600.53. Following the sale, the director directly owned 818,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $162,338,466.77. The trade was a 3.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total transaction of $1,406,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 85,755 shares in the company, valued at $17,228,179.50. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 134,167 shares of company stock valued at $25,749,309 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.