First Trust Advisors LP Sells 180,960 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 21.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 647,534 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 180,960 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.22% of Diamondback Energy worth $106,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the third quarter worth $1,215,000. Fulcrum Equity Management bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the third quarter valued at about $206,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 2,027 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,935,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $138,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FANG. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $214.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Williams Trading set a $190.00 price objective on Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $194.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.96.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:FANG traded up $0.60 on Friday, hitting $136.76. 1,608,355 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,097,456. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.00 and a 52 week high of $214.50. The company's 50-day moving average price is $145.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $163.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) 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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Frank D. Tsuru acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $156.51 per share, for a total transaction of $313,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

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.