Townsend & Associates Inc Purchases Shares of 14,249 Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Townsend & Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 14,249 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,061,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC now owns 5,090 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Investor s Fiduciary Advisor Network LLC now owns 3,559 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $569,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,414 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,779 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Biondo Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,858 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $4,614,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FANG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $183.00 to $176.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $211.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $213.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $189.91.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 20,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.80, for a total transaction of $2,913,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 102,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,586,306. This represents a 16.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $139.09 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.36. The company has a market cap of $40.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.00 and a 12-month high of $186.74.

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

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.43%.

Diamondback Energy Profile

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.