Magnolia Oil & Gas Q1 2026 Earnings Report

Magnolia Oil & Gas EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.54
• Consensus EPS: $0.51
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.03
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.54

Magnolia Oil & Gas Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $358.51 million
• Expected Revenue: $349.89 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$8.62 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +2.30%

Magnolia Oil & Gas Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2026
• Date: 5/6/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, May 7, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 11:00AM ET

Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) (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). By leveraging pad-drilling techniques and centralized infrastructure, Magnolia aims to enhance well performance, reduce per-well costs and accelerate the pace of development on its acreage positions.

Magnolia Oil & Gas maintains an asset base spanning thousands of net leasehold acres across Karnes, DeWitt and La Salle counties. The company’s acreage offers a diverse portfolio of geological targets within the Eagle Ford formation, allowing it to balance oil-weighted production with associated gas and NGL volumes to optimize overall portfolio returns.

Since its initial public offering in early 2022, Magnolia has pursued a disciplined growth strategy under the guidance of a management team with decades of upstream industry experience. The company emphasizes operational efficiency, capital stewardship and a data-driven approach to reservoir evaluation as it seeks to generate sustainable value for shareholders and stakeholders in the communities where it operates.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Magnolia reported a strong Q1 with production up 6% YoY to 102.6k BOE/d (oil 40.7k b/d), net income of ~$101M ($0.54/sh), Adjusted EBITDAX $253M, and generated ~$146M of free cash flow with ~36% pre-tax operating margins.
• Positive Sentiment: Completed $155M of bolt-on acquisitions adding ~6,200 net acres and ~500 BOE/d (45% oil), including a contiguous ~10,000 gross‑acre Karnes block that raises working interest to ~93% and provides multi-year development optionality.
• Positive Sentiment: Reiterated 2026 plan to run two rigs and one completion crew with $440–480M D&C capex and ~5% full‑year production growth, and the company is fully unhedged, which should amplify near‑term earnings if oil prices hold.
• Positive Sentiment: Returned capital to shareholders via ~$83M of dividends and buybacks (repurchased ~2M shares in Q1), increased the quarterly dividend 10% to $0.165, has ~11.6M shares remaining under authorization and ended Q1 with ~$124M cash (~$574M total liquidity).
• Negative Sentiment: Total revenue per BOE declined ~4% YoY due to weaker NGL and natural gas prices, and first‑quarter adjusted cash operating costs were $11.57/BOE, underscoring sensitivity to natural gas/NGL price moves despite strong oil realizations.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. My name is Danielle, and I will be your moderator for today's call. At this time, all participants will be placed in a listen-only mode as our call is being recorded. I would now turn the call over to Magnolia's management for the prepared remarks, which will be followed by a brief question-and-answer session.

[Tom Fitter, Investor Relations Executive at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Thank you, Danielle. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Magnolia Oil & Gas' first quarter earnings conference call. Participating on the call today are Chris Stavros, Magnolia's Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Brian Corales, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, today's conference call contains certain projections and other forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Additional information on risk factors that could cause results to differ is available in the company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. A full Safe Harbor can be found on slide two of the conference call slide presentation with the supplemental data on our website.

[Tom Fitter, Investor Relations Executive at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

You can download Magnolia's first quarter 2026 earnings press release, as well as the conference call slides from the investor section of the company's website at www.magnoliaoilgas.com. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Chris Stavros.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Thank you, Tom. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for all for joining us today for a discussion on our first quarter 2026 financial and operating results. I plan to briefly speak on our first quarter results, which provided a strong start to the year and consistent performance across our financial and operating metrics. I'll then highlight what turned out to be an active quarter for bolt-on oil and gas property acquisitions for Magnolia, adding to our working interest and royalty interest in both of our operating areas by closing several deals during the quarter. I'll finish up by speaking to Magnolia's 2026 capital and operating plan, which is well-positioned during this period of product price volatility, driving incremental free cash flow and improving our financial flexibility. Brian will then review our financial results in greater detail and provide some additional guidance before we take your questions.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Starting with slide three in our quarterly investor presentation, Magnolia delivered another strong and consistent quarter of execution across our financial and operating metrics and centered around our disciplined business model, characterized by a low reinvestment rate, high operating margins, and moderate production growth. For the first quarter of 2026, total company production volumes grew by 6% year-over-year to 102.6 Mboe/d, with oil production growing by 4% and averaging 40.7 Mbpd. Production in Giddings was the primary growth driver for the company, with total Giddings production increasing 9% year-over-year, and oil production showing growth of 8% over the same period. Giddings production volumes were a record for the company in the quarter. Giddings production currently accounts for approximately 82% of Magnolia's total company volumes.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

The quarter was equally solid around our financial metrics, supported by growth in our oil and gas production and higher oil prices for which our production is entirely unhedged. Our first quarter net income was approximately $101 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, with adjusted EBITDAX coming in at $253 million. Drilling completion capital for the period was roughly $129 million, providing a reinvestment rate of 51% of our adjusted EBITDAX. Pre-tax operating margins averaged 36% for the quarter. Our low reinvestment rate and high operating margins demonstrate our capital spending discipline, proactive cost management, and further capture of operational efficiencies.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Magnolia generated approximately $146 million of free cash flow during the first quarter and returned $83 million to our shareholders through a combination of our base dividend on our share repurchase program, where we bought back just over 1% of Magnolia's outstanding shares during the period. Additionally, EnerVest, Magnolia's original private equity shareholder, completed the sale of their remaining ownership position during the quarter. This action simplifies our capital structure through the elimination of any remaining Class B shares outstanding at the end of the first quarter. As shown on slide four, the first quarter turned out to be a busy period for acquisitions as we completed the purchase of several small bolt-on oil and gas property acquisitions in both our Karnes area and in Giddings, totaling $155 million.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

These transactions, which closed in the latter part of the first quarter, include roughly 6,200 net acres and approximately 500 boe/d of low decline PDP, about 45% oil and with significant undeveloped upside opportunities located in highly productive areas where we currently operate and understand well. In our Karnes area, the acquired acreage creates a sizable and largely contiguous 10,000 gross acre block of primarily undeveloped and highly attractive acreage in the core of the Eagle Ford trend across both Karnes and Gonzales counties. The acquired tracts increase our working interest in the area to approximately 93%, with an average NRI of around 80%. At our current development pace in the Karnes area, this acquisition adds multiple years of development locations and blocks up a large contiguous position in both Karnes and Gonzales counties, allowing for longer lateral development.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

In Giddings, our successful ground game continues to increase our working interest and royalty interest by acquiring new acreage in and around our current operated position. The Giddings transactions increased our interest in approximately 45,000 gross acres, in addition to adding some new contiguous acreage, furthering our strategy of buying more of what we already own. Each of these transactions leveraged the deep technical knowledge we've gained from our drilling and completion activities in the field, while meaningfully extending our already robust inventory of high return drilling locations, increasing our working interest in existing assets and adding valuable duration to our overall resource portfolio. This further demonstrates our ability to deploy a portion of Magnolia's excess free cash flow into high quality targeted opportunities.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Our goal in pursuing these is intended to not simply replace produced reserves, but to expand our long-term opportunity set and reinforce the sustainability of our strong financial returns. We continue to actively seek out additional asset acquisition opportunities that improve our business using our technical experience in developing the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford formations in South Texas that provide us with a clear competitive advantage. As I often mention, Magnolia's primary goal is to be the most efficient operator of our best in class oil and gas assets to generate the highest return on those assets while spending the least amount of capital on drilling and completing wells. Magnolia's high quality assets and the strategy of discipline around capital spending should continue to serve us well during periods of product price volatility.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Our capital allocation priorities, which include a low reinvestment rate and returning a significant amount of our free cash flow to shareholders, remain unchanged. We are maintaining our original activity plan of running two rigs and one completion crew, which is expected to deliver total production growth of approximately 5% in 2026, within the same range of drilling and completion capital we outlined earlier this year. Some of this year's activity is expected to occur on the recently acquired acreage. Oil price differentials have narrowed significantly in recent weeks, which should provide us with higher oil price realizations in the second quarter. Similar to the Magellan East Houston benchmark, which is currently higher than the price of WTI. Beyond the benefit of higher oil prices, Magnolia is well positioned for success through the consistent execution of our business model.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

The absence of commodity hedges on all our production is expected to translate into higher earnings and free cash flow in the current quarter, adding to our significant financial flexibility. I'll now turn the call over to Brian to provide further details on the quarter and some additional guidance.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. I will review some items from our first quarter results and refer to the presentation slides found on our website. I'll also provide some additional guidance for the second quarter of 2026 before turning it over for questions. Beginning on slide six, Magnolia delivered an excellent quarter as we continue to execute on our differentiated business model. During the first quarter, we generated net income of $101 million or $0.54 per diluted share. Our adjusted EBITDAX for the quarter was $253 million, with total capital associated with drilling completions and associated facilities of $129 million, representing 51% of our adjusted EBITDAX.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

First quarter production volumes grew 6% year-over-year to 102.6 Mboe/d, while generating free cash flow of $146 million. Looking at the quarterly cash flow waterfall chart on slide seven, we started the quarter with $267 million of cash. Cash flow from operations before changes in working capital was $247 million, with working capital changes and other small items impacting cash by $23 million. During the quarter, we paid dividends of $31 million and allocated $53 million towards share repurchases. We incurred $128 million on Drilling, Completion, and associated facilities and leasehold, and added $155 million on small bolt-on acquisitions comprised of additional acreage, working interest, and royalties. We ended the quarter with $124 million of cash.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Looking at slide eight, this chart illustrates the progress in reducing our total outstanding shares since we began a repurchase program in the second half of 2019. Since that time, we have repurchased 83.7 million shares, leading to a change in weighted average diluted shares outstanding of 28% net of issuances. Magnolia's weighted average diluted share count declined by approximately 2 million shares sequentially, averaging 185.9 million shares during the first quarter. We currently have 11.6 million shares remaining under our repurchase authorization, which are specifically directed toward open market repurchases. Turning to slide nine. Our dividend has grown substantially over the past few years, including a 10% increase announced in early 2026 to $0.165 per share on a quarterly basis.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Our next quarterly dividend is payable on June 1st and provides an annualized dividend payout rate of $0.66 per share. Our plan for annualized dividend growth is an important part of Magnolia's investment proposition and supported by our overall strategy of achieving moderate annual production growth, reducing our outstanding shares, and increasing the dividend payout capacity of the company. Magnolia continues to have a very strong balance sheet, and we ended the quarter with $124 million of cash. Our $400 million of senior notes does not mature until 2032. Including our first quarter ending cash balance of $124 million in our undrawn $450 million revolving credit facility, our total liquidity is approximately $574 million. Our condensed balance sheet as of March 31st is shown on slide 10.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Turning to slide 11 and looking at a per unit cash cost and operating income margins. Total revenue per boe declined approximately 4% year-over-year due to the decline in NGL and natural gas prices, partially offset by a small increase in oil price. Our total adjusted cash operating costs, including G&A, were $11.57 per boe in the first quarter of 2026, and our operating income margin for the first quarter was $13.84 per boe, or 36% of our total revenue.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Turning to guidance, first quarter D&C capital are expected to be between $120 million and $125 million, and we are reiterating our full year budget we outlined in February of $440 million-$480 million. In addition, we are reiterating our full year 2026 outlook for total production growth of approximately 5%. Total production for the second quarter is estimated to be approximately 105,000 bpd. Oil realizations have improved. We are anticipating prices for the second quarter to be similar to Magellan East Houston benchmark pricing. Magnolia remains completely unhedged for all its oil and natural gas production and benefiting from the improvements to oil prices.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

The fully diluted share count for the second quarter of 2026 is expected to be 185 million shares, which is 4% lower than second quarter 2025 levels. We expect our effective tax rate to be approximately 21% and our cash taxes for 2026 to be in the mid-single digit range. We are now ready to take your questions.

[Operator]

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star than two. The first question comes from Neal Dingmann from William Blair. Please go ahead.

[Neal Dingmann, Analyst at William Blair]

Morning, guys. Nice quarter. Chris, my first question just on the very interesting recent bolt-ons that you all have done. Specifically, could you talk about, I don't know, maybe any color, how much you were able to just on the Karnes side, able to add and wondering by doing this, does this change upcoming activity plans specifically in that play?

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Good morning, Neal. Thanks. You know, I think the important takeaway for me and for us on the Karnes transaction specifically, is that we were able to, you know, pull this together. It was really sort of a tactical commercial transaction that was a bit unique. We were able to pull this together, creating this 10,000 acre contiguous block of acreage. It's largely undeveloped, very high working interest, advantageous NRI, located in a very good area. The undeveloped contiguous nature of the acreage really does provide us with, you know, multiple years of drilling. You know, I could probably count it on my hand in terms of, you know, what it adds to us as far as years and beyond.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

It's sort of a blank canvas, the way I would describe it, and allows us to optimally develop the asset. Regarding our plans going forward, it's not gonna change our overall allocation around activity or capital or proportional view. It's gonna be easily worked into our drilling program, and I would imagine sooner rather than later.

[Neal Dingmann, Analyst at William Blair]

Perfect. Just my second question on getting to development. Specifically, could you speak to maybe just talk a bit about what the average pad size and well cost is in that play? And again, what I'm after here is wondering, you know, would you consider now that you're in full development in that play and you know, if so, how do the economics today compare to, you know, a couple of years ago when, you know, you were newer in the play and you were certainly doing more testing and kind of drilling, you know, what I'd call more one-off wells.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

On the pad size, we're pretty close to optimizing that, I would tell you. I mean, occasionally some of the pads are a little higher, but or a little lower. I mean, on average, there are three to four well pads, and that's over the full development of that, you know, 240,000 acre development area that we talked to or speak of. Like I said, occasionally there could be a five-well pad or a six-well pad or a three-well pad or a two-well pad, but on average about three to four is sort of optimal. As far as the economics, they're better than they were earlier because we've gotten more capitally efficient. You know, we know the play better.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

We've, you know, tightened some things up. We're drilling faster. We're completing faster. You know, we continue to do that. I think the economics are broadly better.

[Neal Dingmann, Analyst at William Blair]

Thank you so much.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Sure.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Phillip Jungwirth from BMO. Please go ahead.

[Phillip Jungwirth, Analyst at BMO]

Thanks. Good morning. Coming back to the Karnes bolt-on, having this large 10,000 acre undeveloped contiguous block, was just wondering if you could talk about how you see the development scheme here, whether it's wells per DSU, lateral lengths or the zones you can target, just given that there's generally a lot of resource in this area.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Yeah. We're getting around the, you know, the wells per DSU. I mean, we're still not quite there yet, but I mean, the laterals will be, you know, sort of approaching 10,000 ft in some cases, and beyond. That's substantially more than what we've typically been able to do in the Karnes area generally.

[Phillip Jungwirth, Analyst at BMO]

Okay, great. You noticed, yeah, active quarter for A&D, and then you did noted in the release that you'll actively be looking to seek out additional acquisition opportunities just to improve the business, leverage technical expertise. Just given that you've grown the company significantly over the years, is there kind of an upper limit on transaction size? Just remind us on balance sheet parameters is if you would consider larger sized transactions.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

I mean, it really depends what's out there. You know, we do look at everything, the plan is not to shock and awe. It's not about that. You know, you're not gonna wake up one day, and that's my objective, really, is to run a public company, we're trying to build trust and faith within our shareholder base in terms of what we're doing. You won't find us looking at out of basin deals. All of what we look at is really what we understand and within our ability to manage and in and around our neighborhood. We should know it well. The size really sort of depends on what's out there and as things become available.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

As you'd imagine, with pricing doing what it's done, you know, there's probably more things that are available or out there, but it sort of really depends what it looks like and how it fits into our possibility of where the art of the possible, if you will.

[Phillip Jungwirth, Analyst at BMO]

Makes sense. Thanks.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Peyton Dorne from UBS. Please go ahead.

[Peyton Dorne, Analyst at UBS]

Hey, guys. Thanks a lot for getting me on. You know, you're obviously keeping the budget a little unchanged here, and I know the preference isn't to add any rigs or crews kind of writ large. I'm just curious about the opportunity to maybe accelerate some workovers or some timings of the tails across the asset base just to kind of take advantage of the higher oil prices that we've seen year-to-date. Thanks.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Yeah, no, we could certainly consider some of those things, whether it's a little bit more appraisal or maybe even an exploration well. You know, the math or arithmetic on drilling faster or adding more activity, you know, current oil price is certainly not lost on me. I get it. Look, I've been doing this for a long time. You know, I view this more as a marathon, not a sprint, so you never know what's right around the bend. With every barrel we accelerate and pull forward, it simply means I have to replace that barrel that much quicker, and it creates a little bit of added tension in terms of the higher rate of decline that we face.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

You know, we are, you know, we're planning to grow about 5% this year, which is probably a little higher than most. We have a reasonable chance of surprising a little higher because of good well performance. I'll probably take the over on that one. If we were to add anything new, I think almost as you said, it would probably be a little bit more on the appraisal work side. Yeah, maybe workovers, but, you know, sort of less incremental or maybe even an exploration well. Again, I wouldn't It's not a dramatic shift or change because of the price per se. However, you know, at current oil prices, it also wouldn't surprise me to see a little bit more non-op activity as well.

[Peyton Dorne, Analyst at UBS]

Okay, great. We'll look for all those. Just, you know, in the recent acquisition and then some of the past transactions, you guys kind of highlighted the pickup of some royalty interest across the leasehold. I wonder if you could just kinda quantify the total royalty acreage that you have right now. Do you see acquisitions of royalties or mineral interests kind of becoming a larger part of the acquisition strategy on maybe a go-forward basis? Thank you.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Yeah, I mean, I'll let Brian answer on that as well. Honestly, if you're speaking to something where, you know, acquiring royalties is really more a, you know, sort of an event that leads to something to either monetize it in a financial opportunity, the answer is not really. This is just enhancing our own economics.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Yeah, I mean, if we do have relatively high NRI, especially at Giddings. you know, it's definitely, you know, we'll call it, you know, 5-plus thousand a day in terms of production. That's straight from royalties. That really enhances our margin. you know, the ultimate goal is, you know, to control as much as you can and have the highest margins you can. you know, whether it's royalties or higher working interest, we wanna own more of what we have.

[Peyton Dorne, Analyst at UBS]

That's helpful. Makes sense from an economic perspective for sure. Thanks for having me on.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Thanks.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Carlos Escalante from Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

[Carlos Escalante, Analyst at Wolfe Research]

Hey, good morning, Brian, Chris, and Tom. I wanted to circle back on the deal. I know that you had a lot of questions this morning, but just curious to hear your perspective on how you thought this deal cleared at this price is because you typically don't see M&A at peak oil prices if you believe this is the peak or we're close to some kind of peak. If acreage of this quality is clearing at this prices, what does that say about the broader bid ask in Karnes and also Giddings? How deep is the pipeline of similar opportunities relative to when we last talked to you last quarter, considering the move in commodity pricing?

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Yeah. Good morning, Carlos, thanks for the question. I never said that it cleared at current prices. we were in conversations around this for a period of time and, you know, sometimes better to be fortunate than good. you know, what I would tell you about, you know, the bid-ask, as you can imagine, like I said earlier, it's clearly easier if you're a seller to sort of come to market now with the hope or belief that, you know, you'll find willing acquirers of assets. There's lots of things out there. You ask anyone, there's plentiful. It's really a I don't wanna say a seller's market so much.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Maybe that's not the best way to put it, but just in terms of availability or opportunities, that will are coming, whether they're in processes or one-off opportunities. There's a lot to be had if you want it. You know, the way I think about it is it's gotta make sense. You know, when we look at anything for Magnolia, this needs to support our business model, and have characteristics that look similar to what we already are, and frankly, improve us. You know, that I always joke a little bit. I mean the objective of any acquisition is to make you better, not worse. There can be these unique one-off opportunities, irrespective of the price that it may clear at that still work for some, depending.

[Carlos Escalante, Analyst at Wolfe Research]

Yeah. My question was precisely to get at the motivation behind the deal, but it sounds like you had been working on it, and I think that does much of the work for the answer. On my follow-up, my question really is on your realizations as a whole. I know I've pushed you guys around, asking you this question for quite some time now, but I'm looking for some sort of a validation that the second half of this year when we bring so much Permian gas to market that may be connected to part of the sell points you guys sell your gas in won't be affected.

[Carlos Escalante, Analyst at Wolfe Research]

You've had some very thoughtful commentary around that before, but as we get close to those pipelines coming to market, I wonder if you have any new perspectives on what the dynamics will be on the natural gas front?

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

The new perspective is really gained through the experience of the old perspective or the old outcome, which, you know, oftentimes we'll get these exact questions on infrastructure that comes on that could create changes in realizations or free up supply in some fashion. Specific to what you're talking about, you know, as an example, last year when Matterhorn came on, you know, that was the question, and there was a concern that that would have an impact. Yet it did not. You know, you're seeing what's going on in Waha most recently and, you know, it's here we are. I don't know the true answer, but my experience suggests that it may not be all that different than what occurred a year ago, irrespective of what's happening right now.

[Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Carlos, I'd also add, I mean, both oil and gas, we sell our products at the market, you know, on the water. We're very close to where our products are sold. The tolling fees are less, and they're attractive pricing. You're seeing that in the oil market today. You're seeing that, you know, at Ship Channel. So we're happy with the markets that we sell.

[Carlos Escalante, Analyst at Wolfe Research]

Always appreciate the color. Thank you guys for coming back.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Thanks.

[Operator]

As a reminder, if you have a question, please press star one. The next question comes from Neil Mehta from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

[Neil Mehta, Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Yeah. Good morning, Chris and team. First question is just around capital returns or shareholder returns, specifically the repurchase. You guys knocked out another 2 million shares in the first quarter, your perspective on the buyback here and how it fits into the tools you have to create shareholder value.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Yeah. It's always been part of the model. Frankly, its compounding effects are enormously beneficial in terms of helping us with the dividend growth and growth per share in the dividend, if you will, by, you know, sort of reducing the actual cash outlays while you grow the dividend on a higher per share rate. Look, it's part of the same old ABCs of what we do on our model, and frankly, I see it as part of a consistent plan for us. I don't see that going away. I think it's at a size that is appropriate for what we are and what we're capable of doing and delivering consistently. Our shareholders like it.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

It rewards the remaining holders, of which I am one, and I enjoy it too. I think it's a, it's a good way to create shareholder value over time.

[Neil Mehta, Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

That's the follow-up. It's just the dividend. I think, you guys talk about, at least 1% of the stock getting bought back every quarter over the long term. You also talk about a 10% long-term dividend growth rate. How do you feel about that double digit level, and is there potential for upside if we end up in a higher for longer environment and given the strength of the balance sheet?

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Yeah. I try to catch myself on really creating these targets. The target is somewhat artificial in a way, it's really designed to speak to what the business is capable of doing. If the business grows mid-single digits, which I would define as 4% or 5%, 6%, and then you're buying back, you know, 1% of your shares per quarter, You know, it's built into sort of the investment proposition of what we're doing. The dividend growth is an outcome of what I just said around the volume growth and the share repurchases. It sort of just falls out of the model.

[Neil Mehta, Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Makes sense, Chris. Thanks.

[Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO at Magnolia Oil & Gas]

Thank you.

[Operator]

This concludes our question-and-answer session. The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Chris Stavros, Chairman, President, and CEO
• Tom Fitter, Investor Relations Executive

Analysts

• Brian Corales, SVP and CFO at Magnolia Oil & Gas
• Carlos Escalante, Analyst at Wolfe Research
• Neal Dingmann, Analyst at William Blair
• Neil Mehta, Analyst at Goldman Sachs
• Peyton Dorne, Analyst at UBS
• Phillip Jungwirth, Analyst at BMO