Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Shares Sold by Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 48.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 895 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 842 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 146,870 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $28,008,000 after purchasing an additional 47,951 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 368.1% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,784 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after buying an additional 7,694 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,053,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,618,560 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $793,611,000 after acquiring an additional 266,299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FANG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $235.00 to $212.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,712 shares in the company, valued at $852,872. This represents a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $173.26 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.93 and a 12 month high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $170.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.26. The company has a market cap of $50.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.92, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.88.

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 the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.