Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after acquiring an additional 928,429 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 3.13% of Diamondback Energy worth $1,496,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wintrust Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 247.3% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Key Financial Inc grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 940.0% in the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 208 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on FANG shares. Barclays cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group cut their target price on Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $199.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frank D. Tsuru acquired 2,000 shares of the firm's 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $896,802.30. The trade was a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG stock traded down $1.25 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $136.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 569,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,093,441. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year 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 market capitalization of $40.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. The company's fifty day moving average is $144.59 and its 200-day moving average is $162.17.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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. On average, research analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.