Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Increases Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,177 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,266,640 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,209,617,000 after buying an additional 648,317 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,494,159 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $541,175,000 after purchasing an additional 89,663 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,320,567 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $514,289,000 after purchasing an additional 206,189 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,007,599 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $465,817,000 after purchasing an additional 858,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,999,579 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $309,695,000 after purchasing an additional 12,237 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $384,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 96,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,532,416. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $384,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 96,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,532,416. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 57,675 shares of company stock valued at $11,311,096. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $214.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.53.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

FANG traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $205.24. 1,286,892 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,739,854. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.41 and a 12-month high of $211.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.41 and a 200 day moving average of $168.61. The firm has a market cap of $36.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.13. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a $3.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.00%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.76%.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.