Aurora Investment Counsel Trims Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Aurora Investment Counsel cut its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,052 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 487 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FANG. First Community Trust NA acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 67.1% during the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 137 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 99.2% during the 2nd quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 251 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FANG. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Johnson Rice cut shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $233.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ FANG opened at $181.46 on Thursday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.70 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.00. The firm has a market cap of $52.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.89.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of Diamondback Energy 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total value of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,037,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,732,485.09. This represents a 92.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.