National Pension Service Grows Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 319,997 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,103 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.11% of Diamondback Energy worth $52,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FANG. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 247.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Key Financial Inc raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the third quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FANG. Wolfe Research upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $218.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.09.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $155.59 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $151.00 and a 12-month high of $214.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.63.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is currently 25.32%.

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.