Meeder Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 86.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,342 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 41,463 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,609,143 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,706,076,000 after acquiring an additional 2,381,488 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $603,038,000 after purchasing an additional 415,902 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 235.6% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,730,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $541,844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,900 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 10.1% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,690,181 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $538,547,000 after purchasing an additional 247,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 7.1% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,473,831 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $495,236,000 after buying an additional 164,732 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $180.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.89. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.70 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $181.39 and a 200 day moving average of $191.07.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares in the company, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 92.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, acquires, develops, explores, and exploits unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. It focuses on the development of the Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations of the Midland basin; and the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of the Delaware basin, which are part of the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico.