BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 59.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,448 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 12,147 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $6,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,869,787 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,391,567,000 after purchasing an additional 176,208 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 38.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,609,143 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,706,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381,488 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $603,038,000 after purchasing an additional 415,902 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 235.6% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,730,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $541,844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 10.1% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,690,181 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $538,547,000 after purchasing an additional 247,065 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on FANG shares. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $237.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $247.00 to $223.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $181,732,485.09. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 6.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $168.86 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $143.08 and a one year high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 3.66 and a quick ratio of 3.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $190.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.51 by $0.01. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.51% and a return on equity of 19.54%. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $2.34 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous None dividend of $2.26. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 20.29%.

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.