Biondo Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,778 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 165 shares during the quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $4,715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,858,555 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $2,044,415,000 after purchasing an additional 149,871 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,169,742 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $849,202,000 after acquiring an additional 571,820 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $793,611,000 after acquiring an additional 266,299 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,163,070 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $682,036,000 after acquiring an additional 502,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,817,554 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $461,600,000 after purchasing an additional 658,644 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FANG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $167.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.33.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG stock opened at $157.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.09 and a 1 year high of $214.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.73.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. On average, equities analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $896,802.30. This represents a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

About Diamondback Energy

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.