Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 2,800 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 60.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,427 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FANG. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,733,538 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $821,649,000 after acquiring an additional 163,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,621,120 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $844,073,000 after purchasing an additional 14,625 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,159,365 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $775,607,000 after purchasing an additional 532,756 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,332,885 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $651,363,000 after purchasing an additional 534,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,828,941 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $575,605,000 after purchasing an additional 117,798 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG stock opened at $190.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $53.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 221.08 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $134.30 and a 12-month high of $214.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.67.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 83,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.12, for a total value of $15,593,458.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 851,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,338,293.60. The trade was a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.90, for a total value of $1,406,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 85,755 shares in the company, valued at $17,228,179.50. The trade was a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,691 shares of company stock worth $21,622,752. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FANG. Zacks Research cut Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $196.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $212.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.53.

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.