B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Lowers Stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,018 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 2,417 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $1,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FANG. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Logan Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Diamondback Energy by 559.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Diamondback Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FANG opened at $192.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $197.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.28. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.41 and a fifty-two week high of $211.96. The firm has a market cap of $34.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.90.

Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $4.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Diamondback Energy had a net margin of 36.71% and a return on equity of 19.36%. Diamondback Energy’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Diamondback Energy, Inc. will post 19.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Diamondback Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. Diamondback Energy’s payout ratio is 20.29%.

Insider Activity at Diamondback Energy

In other news, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $6,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 446,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,322,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Daniel N. Wesson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.14, for a total value of $1,182,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 69,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,736,123.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Travis D. Stice sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,322,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,900 shares of company stock valued at $7,362,750 over the last 90 days. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on FANG shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $224.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Diamondback Energy from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Diamondback Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $214.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Diamondback Energy from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Diamondback Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.35.

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.