Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Lowers Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 22.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,814 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 6,714 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $3,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 233.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 12,673 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after buying an additional 8,877 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.6% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 117,733 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $16,848,000 after buying an additional 10,289 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $472,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 9.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,385,428 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $198,255,000 after purchasing an additional 122,921 shares during the period. Finally, WoodTrust Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,624,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $201.84 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.02. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.00 and a 52-week high of $204.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.87%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $1,130,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $844,561.40. This represents a 57.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total transaction of $11,586,450.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 305,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,310,684.24. This represents a 17.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,209,212 shares of company stock valued at $199,689,401. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $171.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Freedom Capital upgraded Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $199.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $196.81.

Diamondback Energy Company 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.