SCS Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. $FANG

SCS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 276.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,055 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,875 shares during the quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $4,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,990 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $11,424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 514.5% during the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 22,135 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $3,328,000 after acquiring an additional 18,533 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc now owns 2,451 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $364,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $3,794,000. Finally, Fiducient Advisors LLC increased its stake in Diamondback Energy by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiducient Advisors LLC now owns 238,133 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $35,798,000 after acquiring an additional 10,202 shares during the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FANG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Freedom Capital upgraded Diamondback Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Benchmark lowered Diamondback Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Diamondback Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.26.

Diamondback Energy Stock Up 3.9%

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $199.03 on Tuesday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $134.30 and a 1-year high of $214.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $55.99 billion, a PE ratio of 231.43 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $195.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.34.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.49. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 1.87%.The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $1.10 dividend. This is a boost from Diamondback Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is presently 511.63%.

Insider Transactions at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Steven E. West sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $1,130,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,484 shares in the company, valued at $844,561.40. The trade was a 57.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Travis D. Stice sold 63,957 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 305,314 shares in the company, valued at $55,310,684.24. This represents a 17.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 174,321 shares of company stock worth $32,090,475 over the last three months. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.