Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Sells 5,685 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 79,512 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 5,685 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $13,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,914 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 3.4% in the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,852 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter valued at about $314,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 46,474 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $8,012,000 after buying an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $585,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ FANG opened at $182.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $53.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.94. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $145.70 and a one year high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders 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 1.97%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Lyndal Greth sold 13,212,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on FANG. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $195.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Johnson Rice downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.00.

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.