Fisher Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Fisher Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 139,002 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 13,786 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $22,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 198,283 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $32,485,000 after purchasing an additional 43,361 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 631.1% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 43,148 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $7,069,000 after purchasing an additional 37,246 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 47,951 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,675 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares during the period. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 31,467 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $5,155,000 after purchasing an additional 8,704 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $201.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wolfe Research raised Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.09.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 6.9 %

FANG opened at $148.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.70 and a 12 month high of $214.50. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $165.25 and a 200 day moving average of $174.70.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.07. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The company had revenue of $3.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 25.32%.

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.