Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Has $5.67 Million Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. decreased its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,730 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 3,846 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $5,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 233.9% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 12,673 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 8,877 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.6% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 117,733 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $16,848,000 after acquiring an additional 10,289 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $472,000. WoodTrust Financial Corp acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,624,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,385,428 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $198,255,000 after purchasing an additional 122,921 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $203.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.20 and a 52-week high of $214.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $191.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.76. The stock has a market cap of $57.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 236.70 and a beta of 0.46.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.04 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be given a $1.10 dividend. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total value of $11,586,450.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,310,684.24. This represents a 17.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 20,899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $3,761,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 60,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,888,740. This trade represents a 25.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 169,321 shares of company stock worth $31,055,475. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on FANG shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $173.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $178.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $218.25.

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.