Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) Stock Jumps 6.7% – Time to Buy?

Matador Resources Company (NYSE:MTDR) traded up 6.7% on Friday. The stock traded as high as $60.74 and last traded at $60.6030. 448,884 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 1,839,048 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MTDR. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on Matador Resources in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Matador Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 17th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Matador Resources from $77.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Matador Resources from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Matador Resources from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.20.

Matador Resources Trading Up 5.9%

The stock has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.11.

Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Matador Resources had a return on equity of 13.18% and a net margin of 19.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Matador Resources Company will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Matador Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be given a $0.4375 dividend. This is an increase from Matador Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.3750. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Matador Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matador Resources news, CEO Joseph Foran bought 555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $54.49 per share, for a total transaction of $30,241.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,026.28. This represents a 13.16% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Christopher Calvert bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $56.64 per share, for a total transaction of $141,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 44,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,492,160. The trade was a 6.02% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders bought a total of 23,144 shares of company stock valued at $1,211,793 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Matador Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Matador Resources in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Matador Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Center for Financial Planning Inc. bought a new position in Matador Resources in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its position in shares of Matador Resources by 36.7% during the first quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 748 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Matador Resources during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. 91.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Matador Resources

Matador Resources Company (NYSE: MTDR) is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company focuses primarily on unconventional, or shale, resource plays and operates across both upstream exploration and production and related midstream activities.

Matador’s principal exploration and production operations are located in the Delaware Basin in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. Its midstream operations, conducted primarily through San Mateo Midstream, provide natural gas gathering and processing, crude oil and produced-water gathering, and water sourcing and disposal services that support the company’s operations and other producers in the region.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Matador has historically expanded through development and acquisitions in U.S.