Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Cuts Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,907 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 469 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,612 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 424 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 859 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.90, for a total transaction of $179,910.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,241.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Diamondback Energy news, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.90, for a total transaction of $179,910.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,241.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total value of $1,182,840.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,677 shares in the company, valued at $13,736,123.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 1.7 %

FANG stock traded down $3.32 on Monday, reaching $197.44. 316,489 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,565,026. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $143.08 and a one year high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $35.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $188.62.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 36.71%. Diamondback Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.10 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $243.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $154.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.65.

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.