Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Acquires 21,510 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 229,837 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after buying an additional 21,510 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Diamondback Energy worth $34,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 274 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 19,719 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $2,822,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.7% during the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,030 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Townsend & Associates Inc raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 14,330 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,725 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $410,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $192.13 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 223.41 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.56. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $134.30 and a 12 month high of $214.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.54 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FANG. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $249.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research lowered Diamondback Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $223.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.50, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 13,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,640,370.50. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 7,857 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.20, for a total value of $1,486,544.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 942,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $178,362,813.20. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 53,315 shares of company stock worth $10,414,384. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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