Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded Magnolia Oil & Gas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on Magnolia Oil & Gas from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.27.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE MGY opened at $32.34 on Thursday. Magnolia Oil & Gas has a 52 week low of $19.09 and a 52 week high of $32.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. Magnolia Oil & Gas had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 24.79%.The business had revenue of $317.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $322.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Magnolia Oil & Gas will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Magnolia Oil & Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Magnolia Oil & Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Magnolia Oil & Gas news, Director Dan F. Smith sold 18,000 shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.01, for a total value of $522,180.00. Following the sale, the director owned 119,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,458,108.04. This trade represents a 13.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy D. Yang sold 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.29, for a total value of $4,393,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 526,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,425,900.69. This trade represents a 22.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 338,954 shares of company stock valued at $9,911,733. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Magnolia Oil & Gas

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 55.7% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,478,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,898,000 after buying an additional 1,601,809 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 858,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,504,000 after acquiring an additional 221,920 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,781,000 after acquiring an additional 38,502 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 92.1% in the 3rd quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 576,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,756,000 after acquiring an additional 276,290 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 16,251.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 626,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,960,000 after acquiring an additional 622,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.73% of the company’s stock.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Company Profile

Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp (NYSE: MGY) is an independent exploration and production company focused on the acquisition, development and optimization of onshore oil and gas assets in South Texas. Headquartered in Houston, the company concentrates its efforts on the Eagle Ford Shale, where it holds significant working interests in key producing counties.

The company’s core operations center on horizontal drilling and multi-stage completions designed to extract light crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs).