California Public Employees Retirement System Has $69.98 Million Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 9.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 353,809 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,514 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $69,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $209,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304,014 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $60,131,000 after acquiring an additional 6,069 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $828,000. Barings LLC acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,536,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 24.5% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,451 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $682,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Susquehanna upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $231.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $229.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.53.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $195.54 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.01. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.30 and a twelve month high of $214.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.01 billion, a PE ratio of 227.37 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.54 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $1.10 dividend. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 511.63%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total transaction of $1,406,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 85,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,228,179.50. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

About Diamondback Energy

Diamondback Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: FANG) is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub‑basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback’s activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.