Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Lowers Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Dana Investment Advisors trimmed its Diamondback Energy stake by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,678 shares and ending with 160,520 shares valued at about $24.1 million.
• Wall Street remains upbeat on Diamondback Energy, with analysts maintaining a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $218.25 after several target price increases.
• The company reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting EPS of $4.23 versus $3.74 expected and revenue of $4.24 billion, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $1.10 per share.

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 160,520 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 5,678 shares during the period. Diamondback Energy comprises about 0.7% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. owned 0.06% of Diamondback Energy worth $24,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 245.1% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 176 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $241.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $173.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, January 19th. Benchmark lowered shares of Diamondback Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $218.25.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.26 billion, a PE ratio of 236.70 and a beta of 0.46. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.20 and a 12-month high of $214.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $191.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.76.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The company's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.54 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.04 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy's payout ratio is 511.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total transaction of $1,486,544.40. Following the sale, the director owned 942,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $178,362,813.20. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.10, for a total transaction of $1,000,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 51,392 shares in the company, valued at $10,283,539.20. The trade was a 8.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 169,321 shares of company stock worth $31,055,475. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Diamondback Energy

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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