Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Shares Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 101.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,694 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,874 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 245.1% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its position in Diamondback Energy by 264.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $180.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 209.96 and a beta of 0.42. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.69. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.30 and a 1 year high of $214.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.54 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $1.10 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,338,293.60. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total transaction of $1,406,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 85,755 shares in the company, valued at $17,228,179.50. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 113,691 shares of company stock valued at $21,622,752. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $212.00 price target on Diamondback Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $220.68.

Diamondback Energy Profile

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.