Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Grows Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 41.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,549 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FANG. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.6% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 68,545 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $10,616,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Diamondback Energy by 38.5% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,305 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 6,273 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 987 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 2,906 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Finally, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $416,000. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ FANG traded down $4.73 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $201.13. 2,042,402 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,728,141. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.41 and a 52 week high of $211.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $194.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.21. The stock has a market cap of $35.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.93.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.27. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 37.36% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on FANG. UBS Group upped their price target on Diamondback Energy from $183.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other news, CFO Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.82, for a total transaction of $2,289,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 185,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,470,003.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Diamondback Energy news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 78,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.82, for a total value of $2,289,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 185,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,470,003.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

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.