Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 2,808 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,696 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,808 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $8,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,303,362,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 31.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,420,247 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,886,351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,918,943 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,562,224 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,208,188,000 after purchasing an additional 510,281 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $852,791,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,368,069 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $270,590,000 after purchasing an additional 59,023 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FANG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $221.00) on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $259.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.71.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $207.13 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $197.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.52. The firm has a market cap of $58.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 0.55. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.03 and a 52 week high of $216.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.40. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The company had revenue of $5.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 21.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles Meloy sold 33,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.74, for a total value of $6,124,605.42. Following the sale, the director owned 759,864 shares in the company, valued at $139,617,411.36. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Travis Stice sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.31, for a total transaction of $15,323,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 49,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,159,723.37. This trade represents a 60.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 141,666 shares of company stock worth $28,061,456 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc is an independent oil and natural gas company engaged in the acquisition, development, exploration and exploitation of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves. The company’s operations are concentrated in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, particularly the Midland and Delaware Basins.

Diamondback produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids from horizontal wells and related infrastructure. Its activities include drilling and completing wells, operating gathering and processing assets, and managing midstream services that support production.