Sowell Financial Services LLC Acquires New Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,643 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock, valued at approximately $1,382,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FANG. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 38.4% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,675 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,913,000 after acquiring an additional 3,238 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 21,040 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $3,447,000 after purchasing an additional 4,529 shares in the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 20,388 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $3,303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,990 shares in the last quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 8,828 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boothe Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Boothe Investment Group Inc. now owns 20,097 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $3,292,000 after acquiring an additional 5,022 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FANG has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $219.00 to $194.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a "reduce" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $179.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $193.13.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $152.93 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.00 and a 12-month high of $214.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $137.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.15.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.87. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.58 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 11.22% and a net margin of 30.84%. The firm's revenue was up 81.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.50 EPS. Analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Diamondback Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van't sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president now owns 120,645 shares in the company, valued at $17,214,835.05. This represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.

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