Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Lowers Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,058,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 51,669 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.36% of Diamondback Energy worth $182,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 809 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 67.1% in the second quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 3.0% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,907 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the second quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,975 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,999,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.1% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 412 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FANG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays upgraded Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 1.4 %

FANG stock opened at $185.29 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.70 and a fifty-two 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 stock has a market cap of $54.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.72.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its 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). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.35 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of Diamondback Energy 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.