Matador lifts fixed quarterly dividend 17% to $0.4375 a share

Matador Resources Co. will pay a fixed quarterly cash dividend of $0.4375 per share, 17% above the prior $0.375 rate, after its board amended the company's dividend policy on October 21, 2026.

A fixed payout reset to $1.75 a year

Matador's board amended the dividend policy rather than declaring a single one-off distribution. Under the new policy, the stated rate is $0.4375 per share each quarter, or $1.75 per share a year, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2026. The previous policy called for $0.375 per share per quarter, or $1.50 per share a year. On the same per-share basis, the new rate is 16.67% above the prior $0.375, which the company describes as a 17% increase.

The distinction between a policy and a declaration matters for how binding the number is. The policy states what Matador intends to pay on its common stock; the declaration is the board action that fixes an amount and a payment schedule for the current quarter. This release contains both, so the higher rate is not merely an aspiration for future quarters.

The December payment and the record date

The declaration covers a quarterly cash dividend of $0.4375 per share payable on December 4, 2026 to shareholders of record as of November 10, 2026. The dates give the announcement a concrete cash event: holders on the record date receive the first installment at the new rate, and the payment follows in early December. The release does not address ex-dividend trading mechanics or the tax treatment of the distribution, so those details would have to come from the company or a broker rather than from this filing.

Foran ties the increase to cash flow and debt repayment

Chief Executive Joseph Wm. Foran presented the change as evidence about the balance sheet rather than a standalone payout decision. Foran said, "We are pleased to announce a 17% increase to our fixed dividend — the eighth increase in five years — bringing our quarterly cash dividend to $0.4375 per share per quarter, or $1.75 per share per year." He added that the growth "demonstrates the confidence we have in our free cash flow generation and our ability to repay debt."

That framing puts free cash flow and debt reduction ahead of the distribution itself. A company that raises a fixed commitment is telling shareholders it expects the cash to be there in weaker parts of the cycle as well, because a fixed dividend is harder to cut without a visible signal than a discretionary one. The release offers the claim but not the supporting numbers.

A dividend announcement without the cash-flow detail

The exhibit is a dividend announcement furnished under Regulation FD, and it carries no production volumes, revenue, earnings, cash flow or debt balances. That absence matters for anyone trying to test Foran's free-cash-flow claim: the release gives a per-share rate but no share count, so the total annual cash cost of the dividend cannot be computed from this filing alone. The release also calls the payout fixed but does not describe any other dividend component, variable or special, leaving the fixed rate as the only stated commitment.

The dates that will test the policy

The record date of November 10, 2026 and the payment date of December 4, 2026 are the nearest named checkpoints. After them, the test is the next quarterly declaration at the $0.4375 rate and Matador's third-quarter 2026 results, which this filing neither includes nor schedules. Until those arrive, the verifiable facts are the rate change, the two dates and management's characterization of why the board acted.