Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Has $1.28 Million Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 412.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,799 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,276 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Demars Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $638,050,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $298,327,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $185,193,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,136,645 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,496,859,000 after acquiring an additional 928,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Diamondback Energy by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,817,554 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $461,600,000 after acquiring an additional 658,644 shares in the last quarter. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frank D. Tsuru acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $156.51 per share, with a total value of $313,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,802.30. The trade was a 53.62% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Hof Matthew Kaes Van’t sold 10,000 shares of Diamondback Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.69, for a total transaction of $1,426,900.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 120,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,214,835.05. This represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Diamondback Energy Stock Down 0.9%

Diamondback Energy stock opened at $136.28 on Thursday. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.00 and a 1-year high of $214.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $155.81.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.87. The firm had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.58 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 33.64% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.50 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FANG shares. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Williams Trading set a $190.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “reduce” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $157.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $216.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $186.00 to $179.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.09.

Diamondback Energy 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.