Schear Investment Advisers LLC Grows Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 18.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,687 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,419 shares during the period. Diamondback Energy makes up approximately 1.7% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $2,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 39.3% in the third quarter. Maxwell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 9,832 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after acquiring an additional 2,776 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 9.1% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 170,674 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $29,424,000 after purchasing an additional 14,182 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,941 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 56,299 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $9,706,000 after purchasing an additional 4,020 shares during the period. Finally, FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co now owns 2,669 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. This trade 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 is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of 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. Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $233.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.64.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 3.2 %

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $176.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $181.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.36. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.70 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The stock has a market cap of $51.57 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 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.