Tower Bridge Advisors Grows Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Tower Bridge Advisors increased its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 27.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,828 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,898 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 247.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Key Financial Inc increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 940.0% during the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 208 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Diamondback Energy from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $227.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $218.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $216.09.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $158.96 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.41 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $151.00 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) 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, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. 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.