NFJ Investment Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Matador Resources Company $MTDR

Key Points

• NFJ Investment Group LLC cut its Matador Resources stake by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 18,651 shares and leaving it with 187,021 shares valued at about $7.94 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but generally constructive: the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy,” with 10 Buy ratings and 6 Hold ratings, and an average price target of $65.08.
• Matador reported stronger-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $1.53 versus estimates of $1.24 and revenue of $941.6 million versus $871.6 million expected; the company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.375 per share, or $1.50 annually.

NFJ Investment Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Matador Resources Company (NYSE:MTDR - Free Report) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,021 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 18,651 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Matador Resources worth $7,937,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Matador Resources by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,780,888 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $664,105,000 after purchasing an additional 101,613 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Matador Resources by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,670,265 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $283,089,000 after purchasing an additional 258,745 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Matador Resources by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,617,864 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $195,982,000 after purchasing an additional 86,344 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Matador Resources by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,842,011 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $163,055,000 after purchasing an additional 309,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Matador Resources by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,236,457 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $94,942,000 after purchasing an additional 18,729 shares in the last quarter. 91.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MTDR. Roth Mkm reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price target (up from $52.00) on shares of Matador Resources in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research lowered Matador Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Matador Resources from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Matador Resources from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Matador Resources from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.08.

Matador Resources Stock Performance

MTDR stock opened at $53.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 0.74. Matador Resources Company has a 12-month low of $37.14 and a 12-month high of $66.84. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $58.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.41.

Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $941.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $871.57 million. Matador Resources had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 14.41%.The business's revenue was down 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Matador Resources Company will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Matador Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Matador Resources's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.56%.

Insider Activity at Matador Resources

In other news, CEO Joseph Wm Foran purchased 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $53.07 per share, with a total value of $106,140.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,190.53. The trade was a 21.10% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Glenn W. Stetson purchased 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $53.41 per share, for a total transaction of $26,705.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 95,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,099,052.70. This represents a 0.53% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 11,907 shares of company stock valued at $635,712. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company's stock.

About Matador Resources

Matador Resources Company is an independent energy firm primarily engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and natural gas. The company focuses on upstream operations, utilizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques to unlock hydrocarbons from key reservoirs. Its asset base includes both operated and non‐operated positions, with a particular emphasis on the Permian Basin, one of the most prolific oil-producing regions in North America.

Matador's core operations are concentrated in the Delaware Basin segment of the Permian Basin, where it holds substantial acreage in both Reeves and Culberson counties in West Texas and Eddy and Lea counties in New Mexico.

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