Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$5.32.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial cut Baytex Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$5.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. National Bank Financial upped their price target on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.75 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.25 to C$5.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Baytex Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th.

Insider Transactions at Baytex Energy

In related news, insider Chad Lundberg acquired 11,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$4.36 per share, with a total value of C$50,140.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 532,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$2,323,012.36. This trade represents a 2.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Baytex Energy Stock Up 1.4%

BTE opened at C$5.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.33 billion, a PE ratio of -7.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$5.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$4.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94. Baytex Energy has a 52 week low of C$1.91 and a 52 week high of C$6.00.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported C($1.11) EPS for the quarter. Baytex Energy had a negative return on equity of 16.25% and a negative net margin of 40.77%. Analysts forecast that Baytex Energy will post 0.3703367 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baytex Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a $0.0225 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -11.54%.

Baytex Energy Company Profile

Baytex Energy Corp is an oil and gas company. Geographically, the group operates in Canada and the United States. The company derives a majority of revenue from Canada. Its Canada segment includes the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas in Western Canada.