Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $5.50 Million Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,557 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 3,579 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $5,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.4% during 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 buying an additional 3,238 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 198,283 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $32,485,000 after buying an additional 43,361 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 631.1% during 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 buying an additional 37,246 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 48.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.2% during 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 buying an additional 8,704 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Diamondback Energy from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $227.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $216.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $156.51 per share, with a total value of $313,020.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 5,730 shares in the company, valued at $896,802.30. This represents a 53.62 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $145.04 on Wednesday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $140.81 and a one year high of $214.50. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $165.00 and its 200 day moving average is $174.34. The firm has a market cap of $41.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.30, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The business had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid 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 yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 25.32%.

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.