Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 76,440 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 442,643 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 76,440 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.15% of Diamondback Energy worth $76,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Diamondback Energy by 368.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,784 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 7,694 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.1% during the third 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 buying an additional 266,299 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 146,870 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $28,008,000 after acquiring an additional 47,951 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 42,678 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,358,000 after acquiring an additional 6,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 11,978 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the subject of several research reports. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $233.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $252.00 to $232.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $210.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Johnson Rice downgraded Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.70.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $154.94 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.93 and a 12-month high of $214.50. The company has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.87, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results 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). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued 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 yield of 2.32%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In related news, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.11, for a total transaction of $2,313,698,661.30. Following the sale, the insider now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

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.