Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$5.67 and last traded at C$5.63, with a volume of 787862 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$5.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BTE. TD Securities boosted their target price on Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Baytex Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$5.50 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. National Bank Financial increased their price objective on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.75 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.25 to C$5.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Baytex Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$5.32.

Baytex Energy Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of C$4.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$4.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$4.19.

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 (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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Baytex Energy Corp. will post 0.3703367 EPS for the current year.

Baytex Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.0225 per share. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Baytex Energy’s payout ratio is -11.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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