Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG Stock Holdings Lessened by Yarbrough Capital LLC

Yarbrough Capital LLC lessened its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 144,202 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 22,845 shares during the period. Diamondback Energy makes up approximately 0.7% of Yarbrough Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Yarbrough Capital LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $21,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FANG. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 12,608 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,781 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,725,000 after buying an additional 3,418 shares in the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 4,649 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the period. Triangle Securities Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management now owns 3,838 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 2,219 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $201.84 on Monday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.00 and a 1 year high of $204.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.78 billion, a PE ratio of 35.98 and a beta of 0.59.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The oil and natural gas company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 11.07% and a return on equity of 8.08%. Diamondback Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a $1.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $4.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.87%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, Director Charles Alvin Meloy sold 60,605 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.12, for a total value of $9,764,677.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 982,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $158,220,806.72. This represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 20,899 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $3,761,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 60,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,888,740. The trade was a 25.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,209,212 shares of company stock worth $199,689,401. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark downgraded Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $194.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $171.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $196.81.

About Diamondback Energy

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.