Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $5.62 Million Investment in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 28,400 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,617,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 37.5% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,726 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,301,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 51,104 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,022,000 after purchasing an additional 6,069 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 52,355 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 37.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 154,582 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $21,239,000 after buying an additional 41,866 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on FANG. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $187.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Barclays upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Freedom Capital upgraded Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $242.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $221.37.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG opened at $179.91 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.61 billion, a PE ratio of 209.20 and a beta of 0.42. 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 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.54 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $1.10 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,338,293.60. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 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 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 121,548 shares of company stock worth $23,146,460. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.