Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,892 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying 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 quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 146,870 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $28,008,000 after buying an additional 47,951 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 368.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,784 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 7,694 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,053,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,618,560 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $793,611,000 after purchasing an additional 266,299 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 42,678 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $7,358,000 after purchasing an additional 6,672 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FANG shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, September 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $185.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $227.00 price target for the company. Barclays upgraded Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $182.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.08.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock traded up $3.30 during trading on Monday, hitting $178.07. 1,555,988 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,994,115. The firm has a market cap of $51.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $147.93 and a 52-week high of $214.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.77.

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

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.02%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.