D.A. Davidson & CO. Purchases 3,185 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,343 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,185 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $5,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $144,775,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,798,812 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $543,610,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,398 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2,637.8% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 456,686 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $65,352,000 after acquiring an additional 440,005 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 1,127.8% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 369,568 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $52,885,000 after acquiring an additional 339,468 shares during the period. Finally, Ninepoint Partners LP bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,076,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 2.6%

FANG stock opened at $205.32 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $186.80 and its 200 day moving average is $163.83. The stock has a market cap of $57.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.60 and a beta of 0.50. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.75 and a 1-year high of $205.87.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 17.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a $1.05 dividend. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $224.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Benchmark cut Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total value of $11,586,450.12. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,310,684.24. This represents a 17.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 60,605 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.12, for a total transaction of $9,764,677.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 982,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $158,220,806.72. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 1,217,069 shares of company stock valued at $201,213,109 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.