First Trust Advisors LP Buys 810,808 Shares of Matador Resources Company $MTDR

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Matador Resources Company (NYSE:MTDR) by 103.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,595,415 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 810,808 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Matador Resources were worth $100,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MTDR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Matador Resources by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,948,104 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $439,010,000 after acquiring an additional 277,839 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Matador Resources by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,617,864 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $195,982,000 after acquiring an additional 86,344 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Matador Resources by 8.8% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Matador Resources by 65.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,406,182 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $144,558,000 after buying an additional 1,342,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Matador Resources by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,365,997 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $142,853,000 after purchasing an additional 385,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MTDR shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Matador Resources from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Matador Resources from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Zacks Research lowered Matador Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Matador Resources from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Matador Resources from $62.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.08.

Insider Activity at Matador Resources

In other news, CEO Joseph Wm Foran bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $53.07 per share, for a total transaction of $106,140.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $609,190.53. This trade represents a 21.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Glenn W. Stetson purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $53.41 per share, with a total value of $26,705.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 95,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,099,052.70. This trade represents a 0.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 11,907 shares of company stock valued at $635,712. 5.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Matador Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Matador Resources stock opened at $50.88 on Friday. Matador Resources Company has a one year low of $37.14 and a one year high of $66.84. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.73. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.20.

Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) last issued its 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. Matador Resources had a return on equity of 11.20% and a net margin of 14.41%.The company had revenue of $941.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $871.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Matador Resources Company will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Matador Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Matador Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.56%.

Matador Resources Profile

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.