Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 507,524 Shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp $MGY

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group significantly boosted its Magnolia Oil & Gas stake, increasing its holdings by 473.6% in Q4 to 614,682 shares worth about $13.5 million.
• Institutional investors remain heavily involved in MGY, with 94.73% of the stock owned by institutions, while several other funds also increased their positions during recent quarters.
• Magnolia Oil & Gas reported better-than-expected quarterly results with EPS of $0.54 versus estimates of $0.51, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share, implying a 2.3% yield.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp (NYSE:MGY - Free Report) by 473.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 614,682 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 507,524 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.33% of Magnolia Oil & Gas worth $13,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,369,713 shares of the company's stock worth $152,051,000 after purchasing an additional 283,444 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,225,168 shares of the company's stock worth $124,725,000 after purchasing an additional 113,458 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 55.7% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,478,361 shares of the company's stock worth $106,898,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,809 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 4,168,085 shares of the company's stock worth $91,239,000 after purchasing an additional 225,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 58.7% during the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,138,626 shares of the company's stock worth $98,789,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531,061 shares during the last quarter. 94.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MGY has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on Magnolia Oil & Gas from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Research lowered Magnolia Oil & Gas from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $32.00 target price (up from $29.00) on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. 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. Finally, Mizuho set a $30.00 target price on Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.00.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:MGY opened at $29.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business's 50-day moving average is $29.79 and its 200-day moving average is $26.10. Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp has a 1 year low of $21.07 and a 1 year high of $32.76.

Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $358.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.89 million. Magnolia Oil & Gas had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 24.40%.The firm's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 12th. Magnolia Oil & Gas's payout ratio is currently 38.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher G. Stavros sold 119,954 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 883,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,880,409.68. The trade was a 11.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Brian Corales sold 33,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 184,178 shares in the company, valued at $5,363,263.36. This represents a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 338,954 shares of company stock worth $9,911,733 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.92% 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).

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