Skopos Labs Inc. Invests $433,000 in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Skopos Labs Inc. acquired a new position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,794 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $433,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FANG. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 559.0% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 257 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 320 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Diamondback Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $129.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $217.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 15th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diamondback Energy

In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $6,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $179,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,516,241.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,575 shares of company stock valued at $11,491,006 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

Diamondback Energy stock traded up $1.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $193.46. The stock had a trading volume of 688,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,486,610. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $34.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.91. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $123.41 and a one year high of $211.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.46.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Diamondback Energy had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 36.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.29%.

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.