Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 24,339 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lessened its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 317,147 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 24,339 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.11% of Diamondback Energy worth $51,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,496,859,000 after acquiring an additional 928,429 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,169,742 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $849,202,000 after acquiring an additional 571,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,165 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $769,706,000 after acquiring an additional 91,605 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 13.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $638,050,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG traded up $1.06 on Monday, hitting $137.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,663,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,099,377. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.17. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year high of $214.50. The company has a market capitalization of $40.53 billion, a PE ratio of 7.89, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. 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 (DPR) is currently 25.32%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 $896,802.30. The trade was a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $194.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. 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. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.96.

Diamondback Energy Company 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.