Smith Moore & CO. Trims Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Smith Moore & CO. cut its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,524 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wintrust Investments LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 247.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Key Financial Inc lifted its position 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 worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 62.4% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 276 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $156.51 per share, for a total transaction of $313,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at $896,802.30. This trade represents a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $236.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $214.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $167.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $195.00 to $157.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.33.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 12.7 %

Shares of FANG stock opened at $123.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $155.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.96. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.15 and a twelve month high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. Research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.