Simmons Bank Raises Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Simmons Bank grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,577 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,717 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 145.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 11,993 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after acquiring an additional 7,102 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 748.0% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 15,221 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 13,426 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 613.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,401 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,388,000 after acquiring an additional 13,243 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 143.0% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 981,284 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $152,177,000 after acquiring an additional 577,514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FANG. KeyCorp increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $227.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.68.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

FANG traded down $0.51 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $203.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,244,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,740,122. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.35. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.41 and a 1 year high of $211.96. The company has a market cap of $36.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 1.91.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.10 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.91 EPS for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.29%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In other news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 78,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.17, for a total transaction of $1,153,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 78,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,031,153.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,575 shares of company stock worth $11,491,006 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy 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.