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

Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $5.20 and last traded at $5.1450, with a volume of 4010866 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $5.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on BTE shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Baytex Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, TD Securities downgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

Baytex Energy Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 3.61 and a current ratio of 3.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of -9.17 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.47.

Baytex Energy (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.33). Baytex Energy had a negative return on equity of 5.44% and a negative net margin of 16.96%.The firm had revenue of $251.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $545.60 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Baytex Energy Corp will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Baytex Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.0225 dividend. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -12.28%.

Institutional Trading of Baytex Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BTE. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 110.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,127,074 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $15,893,000 after acquiring an additional 3,743,234 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 446.3% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 2,646,885 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,162,346 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,802,016 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,226,000 after acquiring an additional 287,454 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 144,757 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 14,050 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 18.4% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 465,450 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $833,000 after acquiring an additional 72,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.15% of the company’s stock.

About Baytex Energy

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.