HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Matador Resources Company $MTDR

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors cut its Matador Resources stake by 91.1% in the second quarter, selling 46,103 shares and retaining 4,512 shares valued at approximately $225,000. Institutional investors collectively own 91.98% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Matador receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $66.80, compared with a recent share price of $56.83.
• Matador exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.61 in EPS and $1.17 billion in revenue, while revenue increased 32.5% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.375, and insiders purchased more than 23,000 shares over the past three months.

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Matador Resources Company (NYSE:MTDR - Free Report) by 91.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,512 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 46,103 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Matador Resources were worth $225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its position in Matador Resources by 36.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Matador Resources by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 26,798 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,693,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Matador Resources by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,870 shares of the energy company's stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Matador Resources by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 23,240 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,468,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Matador Resources by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 9,369 shares of the energy company's stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. 91.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MTDR. Weiss Ratings cut Matador Resources from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Matador Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Stephens increased their target price on Matador Resources from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Matador Resources from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Matador Resources from $75.00 to $66.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.80.

Matador Resources Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE:MTDR opened at $56.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Matador Resources Company has a 1-year low of $37.14 and a 1-year high of $66.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $54.80 and a 200 day moving average of $55.89. The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 0.79.

Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.53. Matador Resources had a return on equity of 13.18% and a net margin of 19.85%.The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Matador Resources Company will post 7.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Matador Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. Matador Resources's payout ratio is currently 25.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Matador Resources news, CFO Christopher P. Calvert acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $56.64 per share, with a total value of $141,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,492,160. This trade represents a 6.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP William Elsener bought 850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $50.94 per share, for a total transaction of $43,299.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president owned 114,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,851,936.26. The trade was a 0.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 23,144 shares of company stock valued at $1,211,793. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Matador Resources

Matador Resources Company 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, horizontal drilling and development activities in the United States.

Matador's principal operations are concentrated in the Delaware Basin, a sub-basin of the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. Its activities include drilling and completing wells, producing hydrocarbons, and managing mineral and leasehold interests associated with its development programs.

Through its midstream operations, including San Mateo Midstream, Matador also provides gathering, processing, transportation and water-handling services that support oil and natural gas production in the Delaware Basin.

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