ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 133,887 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 37.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 487,254 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 133,887 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $73,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 98,430 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $14,797,000 after buying an additional 10,865 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $983,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,622 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $5,355,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan raised its stake in Diamondback Energy by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 24,563 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,693,000 after buying an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FANG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $242.00 price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $220.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $190.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $218.25.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FANG opened at $207.77 on Wednesday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.20 and a fifty-two week high of $214.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.83. The company has a market capitalization of $58.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 241.60 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 511.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Teresa L. Dick sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 107,755 shares in the company, valued at $20,473,450. This trade represents a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.16, for a total value of $11,586,450.12. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 305,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,310,684.24. The trade was a 17.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 169,321 shares of company stock valued at $31,055,475. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Diamondback Energy Profile

Diamondback Energy, Inc (NASDAQ: FANG) is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploration and production of unconventional resources in the Permian Basin. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the company concentrates its operations in the core Midland and Delaware sub‑basins of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it pursues contiguous acreage positions to support repeatable drilling programs.

Diamondback’s activities span the upstream value chain, including leasehold acquisition, well planning, drilling, completion and production optimization.