abrdn plc Acquires 31,241 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 70.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,333 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,241 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $11,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,797 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,655 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Veracity Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Matt Zmigrosky sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.94, for a total transaction of $969,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,619,663.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,675 shares of company stock worth $11,311,096 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $207.10 on Friday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.41 and a 1-year high of $211.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.13.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $0.13. 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.29 EPS. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $3.08 per share. This is a positive change from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $12.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $214.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) dropped their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $147.00 to $129.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.53.

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.