Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 27.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,326 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,869,787 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $3,391,567,000 after purchasing an additional 176,208 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 4.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,266,640 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,209,617,000 after purchasing an additional 648,317 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,494,159 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $541,175,000 after purchasing an additional 89,663 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,213,631 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $343,296,000 after purchasing an additional 188,590 shares during the period. Finally, Yacktman Asset Management LP lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 1,520,447 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $235,791,000 after purchasing an additional 65,524 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FANG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $201.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $154.00 target price on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.35.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $200.19 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $35.70 billion, a PE ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $196.76 and a 200 day moving average of $181.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.92. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $125.73 and a one year high of $211.96.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 20.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total transaction of $1,182,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,736,123.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 900 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.90, for a total transaction of $179,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,516,241.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total value of $1,182,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,736,123.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 36,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,362,750. 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.