Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) Shares Bought by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,892 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $3,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FANG. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.6% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 198,965 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $39,831,000 after buying an additional 22,194 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.5% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 38,135 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,594,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 33.3% in the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,481 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 218.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,432 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 1,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $375,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of FANG traded up $3.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $178.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,555,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,994,115. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.93 and a 12-month high of $214.50. The stock has a market cap of $51.99 billion, a PE ratio of 10.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $170.76 and its 200 day moving average is $183.77.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.49 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Johnson Rice cut Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.