Great Lakes Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,688 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 426 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $4,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,485 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,520,000 after buying an additional 5,754 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,374 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,208,000 after buying an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 86.1% in the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 4,257 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $697,000 after buying an additional 1,969 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,821 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth $57,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FANG shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $236.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup cut Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $227.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.92.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $150.20 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 capitalization of $43.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $162.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.85. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $137.09 and a 52-week high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. Sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 25.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $156.51 per share, with a total value of $313,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896,802.30. This trade represents a 53.62 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.