Freedom Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,887 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 535 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,675 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 198,283 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $32,485,000 after buying an additional 43,361 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 631.1% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 43,148 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,069,000 after buying an additional 37,246 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 48.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 146,870 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,008,000 after buying an additional 47,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.2% during the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 31,467 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $5,155,000 after buying an additional 8,704 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Frank D. Tsuru bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $156.51 per share, for a total transaction of $313,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,802.30. This represents a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $137.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.00 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.81. The company has a market capitalization of $40.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.88, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 25.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FANG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $175.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.13.

Diamondback Energy Company 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.