Slagle Financial LLC Acquires New Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Key Points

• Slagle Financial LLC bought 13,006 shares of Diamondback Energy in Q4 (about $1.96 million), and institutional investors now own roughly 90.01% of the company's stock.
• Wall Street is broadly bullish with a consensus "Buy" rating and a $203.95 average target; several firms have recently raised price targets (e.g., Citigroup to $230, Morgan Stanley to $220).
• Diamondback missed quarterly EPS estimates ($1.74 vs. $2.00) and saw revenue decline year-over-year, but it raised its quarterly dividend to $1.05 (2.3% yield); insiders have sold about 1.2 million shares (~$201 million) in the past 90 days.

Slagle Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 13,006 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock, valued at approximately $1,955,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 19,719 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $2,822,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,030 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 14,330 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,725 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FANG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $178.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Scotiabank upgraded Diamondback Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $171.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.95.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

FANG stock opened at $185.87 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $52.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.13 and a beta of 0.50. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $127.71 and a 1 year high of $204.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $181.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.51.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 11.07%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.87%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $1,130,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $844,561.40. The trade was a 57.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total value of $11,586,450.12. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at $55,310,684.24. This trade represents a 17.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,217,069 shares of company stock valued at $201,213,109 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Diamondback Energy Company 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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