Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James Financial

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Raymond James Financial from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a C$7.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of C$5.50. Raymond James Financial’s price target suggests a potential upside of 12.54% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on BTE. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.25 to C$5.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.75 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Baytex Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$5.54.

Baytex Energy Stock Up 2.3%

BTE stock opened at C$6.22 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$5.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$4.38. The company has a market cap of C$4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 3.61. Baytex Energy has a fifty-two week low of C$1.91 and a fifty-two week high of C$6.35.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chad Lundberg acquired 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$6.15 per share, for a total transaction of C$67,650.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 613,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$3,772,416.15. The trade was a 1.83% increase in their ownership of the stock. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.