Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Grows Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 240.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 114,531 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 80,898 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $17,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,266,640 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,209,617,000 after acquiring an additional 648,317 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,656,848 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,575,653,000 after purchasing an additional 112,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.8% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,919,925 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $528,736,000 after purchasing an additional 179,405 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,572,083 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $488,590,000 after purchasing an additional 85,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,320,567 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $514,289,000 after purchasing an additional 206,189 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Diamondback Energy news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total value of $1,153,020.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,031,153.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,675 shares of company stock valued at $11,311,096 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $199.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $35.60 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $188.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.21. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.41 and a 12-month high of $211.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.56% and a net margin of 37.36%. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $3.08 per share. This represents a $12.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.17%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FANG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $192.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $183.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.95.

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.