Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 410 Shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,347 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $215,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 33,633 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $5,209,000 after acquiring an additional 6,732 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Strs Ohio grew its position in Diamondback Energy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 288,497 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $44,682,000 after acquiring an additional 13,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $677,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank Of America (Bofa) decreased their target price on Diamondback Energy from $147.00 to $129.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America upgraded Diamondback Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other Diamondback Energy news, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 7,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,241.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Diamondback Energy news, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Jere W. Thompson III sold 2,675 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.35, for a total value of $514,536.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,632,089.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,575 shares of company stock worth $11,491,006 in the last 90 days. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Diamondback Energy stock traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $204.02. The stock had a trading volume of 38,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,717,552. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 1.91. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.41 and a 1-year high of $211.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $196.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.35.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.29 by $0.21. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 36.71%. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.10 earnings per share. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 18.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.29%.

Diamondback Energy Company Profile

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.