Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp (NYSE:MGY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $33.00 and last traded at $32.41, with a volume of 8619 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MGY has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Magnolia Oil & Gas from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Magnolia Oil & Gas from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $25.00 target price on Magnolia Oil & Gas in a report on Monday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.82.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 18.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54.

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

Magnolia Oil & Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. This is an increase from Magnolia Oil & Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Magnolia Oil & Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher G. Stavros sold 119,954 shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.29, for a total value of $3,513,452.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 883,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,880,409.68. The trade was a 11.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian Corales sold 33,000 shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.12, for a total value of $960,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 184,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,363,263.36. This represents a 15.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 338,954 shares of company stock worth $9,911,733 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Magnolia Oil & Gas

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,800,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,650,000 after buying an additional 125,707 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,634,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,230,000 after acquiring an additional 264,649 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,671,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193,458 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 5,330,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 2.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,225,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,725,000 after acquiring an additional 113,458 shares during the last quarter. 94.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Magnolia Oil & Gas

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).