Wealthfront Advisers LLC Invests $14.25 Million in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 81,064 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,249,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the second quarter worth $28,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 264.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.54, for a total value of $1,002,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,303,451.68. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,167 shares of company stock worth $24,714,309. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 1.8%

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $210.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.94 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.30 and a twelve month high of $214.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.08 by $0.40. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 8.58%.The firm had revenue of $5.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.38 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th will be given a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FANG shares. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $206.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $229.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Four research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $221.75.

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.