Foster & Motley Inc. Raises Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,239 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $28,008,000 after acquiring an additional 47,951 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 368.1% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,784 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,687,000 after buying an additional 7,694 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $1,053,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.1% in 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 during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 18.5% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 42,678 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,358,000 after buying an additional 6,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FANG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $218.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.00.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $170.41 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.93 and a 52 week high of $214.50. 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 capitalization of $49.76 billion, a PE ratio of 9.75, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.40.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total value of $208,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy 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.