Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Stock Holdings Increased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 131.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 539,137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 306,172 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $94,770,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the first quarter worth $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 264.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $221.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Sunday, August 9th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $248.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.21.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $197.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.49. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $134.30 and a 52-week high of $216.90.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.08 by $0.40. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The firm had revenue of $5.56 billion for 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 was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 20.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 85.77%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total transaction of $1,406,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 851,530 shares in the company, valued at $159,338,293.60. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,167 shares of company stock valued at $24,714,309. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.