Legal & General Group Plc Sells 369,501 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 23.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,193,201 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 369,501 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.41% of Diamondback Energy worth $195,482,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wintrust Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 247.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Key Financial Inc grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 940.0% in the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 208 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 62.4% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 276 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $214.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $227.00 to $206.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “reduce” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.29.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $134.93 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.00 and a 52 week 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $151.63 and a 200 day moving average of $167.07.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 25.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $156.51 per share, with a total value of $313,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896,802.30. This trade represents a 53.62 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.