First Trust Advisors LP Decreases Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 21.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the 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 reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 64.8% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 4,960 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,887 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 514.9% during the 4th quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 260,566 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $42,689,000 after acquiring an additional 218,189 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 3,072 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,457 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $136.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,550,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,093,236. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $145.44 and a 200-day moving average of $163.39. 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 cap 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.00 and a twelve month high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $3.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.55 billion. Research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is 25.32%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, Director Frank D. Tsuru bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $156.51 per share, for a total transaction of $313,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at $896,802.30. The trade was a 53.62 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $207.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Raymond James dropped their target price on 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. KeyCorp cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Williams Trading set a $190.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.96.

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.