Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 51,686 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 2,412 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $10,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FANG. Founders Capital Management increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 404.0% in the 1st quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 126 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. First Community Trust NA purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Logan Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $55,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $13,736,123.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $255.00 to $245.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on Diamondback Energy from $257.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.75.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of FANG traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $195.34. 691,042 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,557,695. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.84 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.12. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $143.08 and a fifty-two week high of $214.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.51 by $0.01. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a None dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $2.34 dividend. 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 is Thursday, August 15th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.29%.

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.