Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 51,443 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 3,370 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $8,428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FANG. Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Diamondback Energy by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 3,805 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,756 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 247.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $384,000. 90.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on FANG shares. StockNews.com raised Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised Diamondback Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $205.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Diamondback Energy from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $191.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.00.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ FANG opened at $176.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $170.46 and its 200 day moving average is $182.51. The company has a market capitalization of $51.57 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.88. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.93 and a fifty-two week high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The oil and natural gas company reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by ($1.24). Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In related news, Director Mark Lawrence Plaumann sold 1,150 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,872. This trade represents a 19.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.