Jennison Associates LLC Sells 22,720 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 305,943 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 22,720 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.10% of Diamondback Energy worth $52,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 178.1% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 19,552 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in 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 worth $7,358,000 after acquiring an additional 6,672 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2,768.9% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,332 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $883,000 after acquiring an additional 4,181 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the second quarter worth $601,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FANG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $185.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “sector outperform” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Friday, October 18th. Johnson Rice lowered Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $195.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $182.92 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.70 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $181.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.