Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 4.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 95,559 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 4,169 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $19,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,869,787 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,391,567,000 after acquiring an additional 176,208 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.2% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 2,381,488 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $603,038,000 after buying an additional 415,902 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 235.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,916,900 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,213,631 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $343,296,000 after acquiring an additional 188,590 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock traded down $4.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $179.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,505,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,528,718. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $198.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.81. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $143.08 and a 12-month high of $214.50. The company has a market capitalization of $32.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a quick ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.51 by $0.01. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.51% and a return on equity of 19.54%. The company had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.08 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $2.34 per share. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous None dividend of $2.26. This represents a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FANG shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Barclays raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $154.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.45.

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.