Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) Price Target Raised to $32.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $25.00 to $32.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on MGY. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Magnolia Oil & Gas from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Friday, January 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised Magnolia Oil & Gas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.25.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Stock Performance

MGY stock opened at $29.91 on Friday. Magnolia Oil & Gas has a 12-month low of $19.38 and a 12-month high of $32.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.80 and a 200-day moving average of $24.97. The firm has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 17.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.83.

Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $322.18 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Magnolia Oil & Gas will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is an increase from Magnolia Oil & Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. Magnolia Oil & Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.37%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Edward P. Djerejian sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total value of $521,640.00. Following the sale, the director owned 110,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,116.50. This trade represents a 14.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy D. Yang sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was 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 $15,425,900.69. This trade represents a 22.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 338,954 shares of company stock valued at $9,911,733. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Magnolia Oil & Gas

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 34.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 858,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,504,000 after buying an additional 221,920 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised 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 worth $106,898,000 after buying an additional 1,601,809 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 4.4% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,781,000 after buying an additional 38,502 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 4.7% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,369,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,051,000 after buying an additional 283,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 92.1% in the third 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.73% of the company’s stock.

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).