Essex Financial Services Inc. Decreases Position in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FANG) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,019 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Diamondback Energy were worth $986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Diamondback Energy by 247.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 191 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy during the third quarter worth about $42,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Diamondback Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Diamondback Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FANG. StockNews.com upgraded Diamondback Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Diamondback Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Diamondback Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James upped 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, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on Diamondback Energy from $225.00 to $216.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Diamondback Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Diamondback Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FANG opened at $162.01 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $47.31 billion, a PE ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.86. Diamondback Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $152.00 and a fifty-two week high of $214.50.

Diamondback Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Diamondback Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

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.