Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 33.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,067 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after buying an additional 40,353 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of Diamondback Energy worth $26,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,496,859,000 after buying an additional 928,429 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,169,742 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $849,202,000 after purchasing an additional 571,820 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,710,165 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $769,706,000 after purchasing an additional 91,605 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Diamondback Energy by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,163,070 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $682,036,000 after buying an additional 502,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth $638,050,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $202.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Diamondback Energy in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Williams Trading set a $190.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $195.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Frank D. Tsuru purchased 2,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $896,802.30. This trade represents a 53.62 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of FANG stock traded down $2.41 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $129.57. 2,549,160 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,111,660. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $142.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.24. The company has a market cap of $38.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.06. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.00 and a 12-month 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.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.87. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 33.64%. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.50 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 81.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.