Western Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,904 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $970,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 139,308 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $20,942,000 after purchasing an additional 21,575 shares during the period. Eagle Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $5,472,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 338,577 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $50,890,000 after purchasing an additional 47,450 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1,127.5% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 26,907 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $4,045,000 after buying an additional 24,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 54,132 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $8,042,000 after buying an additional 5,816 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG stock opened at $199.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $55.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.89 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $190.11 and its 200 day moving average is $187.39. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.30 and a 52 week high of $214.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.40. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th will be paid a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 13th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 85.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.41, for a total transaction of $6,613,600.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 818,197 shares in the company, valued at $162,338,466.77. This represents a 3.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,640,370.50. The trade was a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 134,167 shares of company stock worth $25,749,309. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $229.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Diamondback Energy from $246.00 to $243.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $262.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $222.30.

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.