Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Decreases Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,282 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 470 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Community Trust NA purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 99.2% in the second quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 251 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $176.60 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $51.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.11, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.89. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.70 and a twelve month 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $181.16 and a 200 day moving average of $191.33.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $247.00 to $223.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Johnson Rice cut Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.64.

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.