Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Sells 9,872 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 274,971 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 9,872 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned 0.15% of Diamondback Energy worth $55,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alaethes Wealth LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.9% in the second quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 9,173 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,836,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 131,898 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $26,405,000 after buying an additional 10,666 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 16,764 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,356,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,900 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 2.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 26,441 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $5,294,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on FANG. KeyCorp began coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $185.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $249.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.71.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $181.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 3.66 and a quick ratio of 3.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.28 and a 200-day moving average of $195.68. The company has a market cap of $32.28 billion, a PE ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.89. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $143.08 and a one year high of $214.50.

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

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

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

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.