Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$5.91 and last traded at C$5.86, with a volume of 880134 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$5.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BTE shares. TD Securities upped their price target on Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Baytex Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$5.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.25 to C$5.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Baytex Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$5.32.

Baytex Energy Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$5.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$4.29.

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

Baytex Energy Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Baytex Energy

In related news, insider Chad Lundberg bought 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$4.36 per share, for a total transaction of C$50,140.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 532,801 shares in the company, valued at C$2,323,012.36. This trade represents a 2.21% increase in their position. 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.