Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$4.79.

BTE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank upgraded Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$4.00 to C$5.25 in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Raymond James Financial raised Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Baytex Energy from C$4.75 to C$5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Capital One Financial raised shares of Baytex Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from C$3.00 to C$6.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Baytex Energy

In other news, Director Mark Bly bought 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$4.50 per share, for a total transaction of C$90,000.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 575,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$2,590,371. The trade was a 3.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Chad Lundberg acquired 11,500 shares of Baytex Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$4.36 per share, with a total value of C$50,140.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 532,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$2,323,012.36. This represents a 2.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Baytex Energy Stock Performance

Shares of BTE stock opened at C$4.61 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$4.26 and a 200-day moving average price of C$3.45. Baytex Energy has a 52 week low of C$1.91 and a 52 week high of C$4.75. The firm has a market capitalization of C$3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.38.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported C$0.04 earnings per share for the quarter. Baytex Energy had a negative net margin of 10.45% and a negative return on equity of 8.96%. The company had revenue of C$746.42 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Baytex Energy will post 0.3703367 earnings per share for the current year.

Baytex Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $0.0225 dividend. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 32.14%.

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.