Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Reduces Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lowered its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 29.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 446,560 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 182,981 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.15% of Diamondback Energy worth $76,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,158,910 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $372,196,000 after acquiring an additional 439,579 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.0% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 415,902 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 280.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 545,202 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $109,144,000 after purchasing an additional 402,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 195.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 531,162 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $106,333,000 after purchasing an additional 351,329 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $209.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Johnson Rice downgraded Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $182.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $185.29 on Monday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.70 and a 1 year high of $214.50. The firm has a market cap of $54.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $182.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.49 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. The trade was a 92.72 % 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.

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.