Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 426.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 49,127 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,794 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $9,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FANG shares. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $249.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Roth Capital set a $212.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $220.68.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,338,293.60. The trade was a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,640,370.50. This represents a 3.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG opened at $189.76 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 220.65 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.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.17 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 511.63%.

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.