Mizuho Securities USA LLC Grows Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 45.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,711 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,563 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $2,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wintrust Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 247.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Key Financial Inc grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 940.0% in the fourth quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 208 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 62.4% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 276 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $195.00 to $157.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.92.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $161.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.22, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.85. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $137.09 and a twelve month high of $214.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $160.14 and a 200 day moving average of $170.13.

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

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 25.32%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Frank D. Tsuru bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $156.51 per share, for a total transaction of $313,020.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896,802.30. This represents a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.48% of the stock is 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.