Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Upgraded at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has C$7.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of C$5.50.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on BTE. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Baytex Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. National Bank Financial raised their price target on Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.75 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on 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. Four investment 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, Baytex Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$5.54.

Baytex Energy Price Performance

TSE:BTE opened at C$5.86 on Monday. Baytex Energy has a 52 week low of C$1.91 and a 52 week high of C$6.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$5.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$4.39. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.51, 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.

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%. Equities analysts expect that Baytex Energy will post 0.3703367 EPS for the current year.

Baytex Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were paid a $0.0225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -11.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Baytex Energy

In related news, insider Chad Lundberg purchased 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$6.15 per share, for a total transaction of C$67,650.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 613,401 shares in the company, valued at C$3,772,416.15. This trade represents 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.