Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Increases Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its Diamondback Energy stake by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, ending with 61,726 shares valued at about $9.28 million.
• Wall Street analysts remain broadly bullish on FANG, with multiple firms raising price targets and the consensus rating standing at Buy with a target price of $223.26.
• Diamondback Energy reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $4.23 versus estimates of $3.74 and revenue of $4.24 billion, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share.

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,726 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,646 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $9,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 245.1% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 264.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 186 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FANG shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial set a $242.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $223.26.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $192.84 on Thursday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $133.75 and a one year high of $214.51. The stock's fifty day moving average is $195.10 and its 200 day moving average is $171.30. The stock has a market cap of $54.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 224.24 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.54 EPS. Diamondback Energy's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $1.10 dividend. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 511.63%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $1,130,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,484 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $844,561.40. This represents a 57.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total transaction of $1,486,544.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 942,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $178,362,813.20. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 174,321 shares of company stock valued at $32,090,475. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc NASDAQ: FANG is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub‑basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback's activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.

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