Neo Ivy Capital Management Cuts Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Neo Ivy Capital Management decreased its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 23.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,040 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 4,360 shares during the period. Diamondback Energy comprises about 0.8% of Neo Ivy Capital Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Neo Ivy Capital Management's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $2,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FANG. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,858,555 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $2,044,415,000 after purchasing an additional 149,871 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,618,560 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $793,611,000 after acquiring an additional 266,299 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 16.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,704,520 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $466,259,000 after purchasing an additional 230,689 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 10.1% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,690,181 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $538,547,000 after purchasing an additional 247,065 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FANG shares. Johnson Rice downgraded Diamondback Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $227.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Diamondback Energy from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,712 shares of the company's stock, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,037,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of FANG stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $163.37. 866,549 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,768,013. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The stock has a market cap of $47.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock's fifty day moving average is $181.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.82.

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

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is 20.61%.

Diamondback Energy Company 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.