Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY) Trading Down 7% - What's Next?

Key Points

• MGY fell 7% on Friday to $26.54, trading just 163,312 shares — about a 95% drop from its average daily volume — indicating a sharp intraday move on unusually light volume.
• Analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" consensus with an average price target of $31, and recent upgrades from Bank of America and UBS have lifted targets to $28 and $35 respectively.
• The company beat Q4 EPS estimates ($0.37 vs. $0.36) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.165 (2.4% yield), but there has been notable insider selling — including CEO and CFO sales on March 9 — with ~338,954 shares (~$9.9M) sold in the last 90 days.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp (NYSE:MGY - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 7% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $26.57 and last traded at $26.5350. 163,312 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 2,977,866 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MGY has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Truist Financial began coverage on Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "hold" rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna cut their target price on Magnolia Oil & Gas from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Mizuho set a $30.00 price target on Magnolia Oil & Gas in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $31.00.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Trading Down 3.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $29.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Magnolia Oil & Gas (NYSE:MGY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $317.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $322.18 million. Magnolia Oil & Gas had a net margin of 24.79% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Magnolia Oil & Gas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Magnolia Oil & Gas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.37%.

Insider Transactions at Magnolia Oil & Gas

In related news, CFO Brian Corales sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.12, for a total transaction of $960,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Christopher G. Stavros sold 119,954 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.29, for a total value of $3,513,452.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 338,954 shares of company stock valued at $9,911,733. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Magnolia Oil & Gas

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MGY. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,344 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Magnolia Oil & Gas by 165.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in Magnolia Oil & Gas during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Magnolia Oil & Gas by 79.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. 94.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Magnolia Oil & Gas Company Profile

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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