Argent Trust Co Decreases Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Argent Trust Co reduced its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 15.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,702 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 1,418 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,869,787 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,391,567,000 after purchasing an additional 176,208 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,609,143 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,706,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381,488 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,012,329 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $603,038,000 after purchasing an additional 415,902 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 235.6% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,730,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $541,844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,690,181 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $538,547,000 after purchasing an additional 247,065 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $178.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $31.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.89. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $143.08 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $193.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.65. The company has a quick ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.51 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 37.51%. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $2.34 dividend. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous None dividend of $2.26. This represents a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FANG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $243.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $237.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp started coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $249.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.71.

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.