Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 114,994 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 60.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 75,300 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 114,994 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $14,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 846 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.8% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,612 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 20.8% in the first quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 424 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 859 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $247.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $255.00 to $245.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.65.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $198.27 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $197.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.95. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $143.08 and a twelve month high of $214.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.90.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.21. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.10 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.63 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total value of $1,182,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,677 shares in the company, valued at $13,736,123.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total transaction of $1,182,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,736,123.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.90, for a total transaction of $179,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,585 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,241.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

About Diamondback Energy

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.