Baytex Energy (NYSE:BTE) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $4.64, but opened at $4.39. Baytex Energy shares last traded at $4.3420, with a volume of 2,672,930 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BTE has been the topic of several research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 3rd. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Baytex Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Baytex Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Baytex Energy Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.95. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.24 and a beta of 0.37.

Baytex Energy (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.09). Baytex Energy had a negative net margin of 24.25% and a negative return on equity of 10.85%. The firm had revenue of $325.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.04 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Baytex Energy Corp will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Baytex Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -8.57%.

Institutional Trading of Baytex Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Baytex Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,449,680 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $95,270,000 after buying an additional 374,972 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Baytex Energy by 816.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,003,118 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $98,381,000 after buying an additional 19,601,808 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Baytex Energy by 43.9% during the first quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,071,614 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $89,695,000 after buying an additional 6,123,098 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Baytex Energy by 20.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 14,233,589 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $33,342,000 after buying an additional 2,375,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Baytex Energy by 7.4% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,710,876 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $19,172,000 after buying an additional 738,337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.15% of the company’s stock.

Baytex Energy Company Profile

Baytex Energy Corp. is an oil & gas exploration and production company. The firm engages in the acquisition, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and in the Eagle Ford in the United States. The company was founded on June 3, 1993 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.