Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) by 16.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,679 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,103 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $2,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FANG. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 2,049 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 456,296 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $74,755,000 after purchasing an additional 22,689 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 21,880 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $3,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,413 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,339 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 644 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,105 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van't sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.69, for a total value of $1,426,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 120,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,214,835.05. The trade was a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $215.00 to $207.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $163.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $161.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $193.09.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG traded up $5.58 during trading on Friday, reaching $154.91. The stock had a trading volume of 5,206,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,212,413. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $136.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $152.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $45.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.87, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.06. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.00 and a fifty-two week high of $214.50.

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

Diamondback Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.46%.

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.