Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Lowers Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lessened its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,317 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 164 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 178.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,532 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $6,112,000 after purchasing an additional 19,552 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 18.5% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 42,678 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,358,000 after acquiring an additional 6,672 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 11,978 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 2,768.9% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,332 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $883,000 after acquiring an additional 4,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $40,533,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $181,732,485.09. This trade represents a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 1.0 %

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

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.78 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FANG shares. Johnson Rice cut Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Diamondback Energy from $232.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays raised shares of Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.00.

About Diamondback Energy

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.