Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Shares Sold by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 50.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,972 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 5,054 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FANG. Smead Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the second quarter worth $144,775,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.0% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $543,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,398 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 532,756 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2,637.8% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 456,686 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $65,352,000 after acquiring an additional 440,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1,127.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 369,568 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $52,885,000 after acquiring an additional 339,468 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total transaction of $1,486,544.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 942,721 shares in the company, valued at $178,362,813.20. This trade represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $1,130,100.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,484 shares in the company, valued at $844,561.40. This represents a 57.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 78,964 shares of company stock worth $15,044,656 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $196.55 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $195.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.93. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.30 and a 12 month high of $214.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 228.55 and a beta of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.54 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 511.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on FANG. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.63.

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.