Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 2.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 216,820 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 4,904 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $42,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FANG. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $821,649,000 after buying an additional 163,548 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,621,120 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $844,073,000 after acquiring an additional 14,625 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,159,365 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $775,607,000 after acquiring an additional 532,756 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $651,363,000 after acquiring an additional 534,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,828,941 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $575,605,000 after acquiring an additional 117,798 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total transaction of $1,406,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 85,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,228,179.50. This trade represents a 7.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,338,293.60. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG opened at $195.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $134.30 and a 52-week high of $214.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $191.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.78. The firm has a market cap of $55.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 227.37 and a beta of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 511.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FANG shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 target price on Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.53.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: FANG) is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub‑basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback’s activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.