National Bank Financial Increases Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Price Target to C$8.50

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) had its target price upped by investment analysts at National Bank Financial from C$7.50 to C$8.50 in a research note issued on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. National Bank Financial’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 27.44% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on BTE. 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 report on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$6.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from C$5.25 to C$7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from C$5.50 to C$7.00 in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$7.00.

Baytex Energy Stock Up 0.5%

BTE stock traded up C$0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting C$6.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,958,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,523,539. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$5.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$4.87. The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.55, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94. Baytex Energy has a 52-week low of C$2.18 and a 52-week high of C$7.14.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$401.37 million for the quarter. Baytex Energy had a negative return on equity of 16.25% and a negative net margin of 40.77%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Baytex Energy will post 0.3703367 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Baytex Energy

In other Baytex Energy news, insider James Robert Maclean bought 10,000 shares of Baytex Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$5.73 per share, for a total transaction of C$57,300.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 185,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,061,895.06. The trade was a 5.70% increase in their position. Also, insider Chadwick Kalmakoff acquired 15,000 shares of Baytex Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$5.73 per share, for a total transaction of C$85,950.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 382,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,190,756.63. This represents a 4.08% increase in their ownership of the stock. Insiders bought a total of 49,800 shares of company stock worth $293,188 in the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Baytex Energy

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.