Howard Financial Services LTD. Acquires 283 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,893 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FANG. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy by 218.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,432 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 1,668 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the second quarter worth $1,773,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 27.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,480 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 2,227 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 39.4% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 3,470 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 980 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $661,000. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $216.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Diamondback Energy from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.63.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Diamondback Energy stock opened at $180.18 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $170.60 and a 200-day moving average of $183.24. The company has a market cap of $52.61 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.93 and a 1-year high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 16.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.00, for a total transaction of $208,150.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,712 shares in the company, valued at $852,872. The trade was a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Diamondback Energy

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.