Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases 7,694 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 368.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,784 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,694 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $213,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,313 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,424 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,389 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 602.0% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 46,193 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $9,247,000 after buying an additional 39,613 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Diamondback Energy news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company's stock, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $232.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $227.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a "sector outperform" rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $212.65.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 3.9 %

Diamondback Energy stock traded down $6.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $165.87. 1,753,814 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,764,038. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.52 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.88. The business's 50-day moving average price is $181.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The firm's revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.