BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 20.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 277,155 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 70,676 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.09% of Diamondback Energy worth $47,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 178.1% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 19,552 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 42,678 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,358,000 after purchasing an additional 6,672 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,008 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2,768.9% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,332 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $883,000 after buying an additional 4,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,464,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $185.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $247.00 to $223.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $176.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.09, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.08. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.70 and a 1 year high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted 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 return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.26 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

Diamondback Energy Company 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.