Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 374,972 Shares of Baytex Energy Corp $BTE

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,449,680 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 374,972 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Baytex Energy were worth $95,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BTE. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in shares of Baytex Energy during the third quarter worth $26,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Baytex Energy during the third quarter worth $31,000. Davis Rea LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Baytex Energy during the third quarter worth $47,000. Kathmere Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baytex Energy during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Baytex Energy during the second quarter worth $73,000. 46.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Baytex Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Baytex Energy stock opened at $4.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.08 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 3.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Baytex Energy Corp has a 12 month low of $1.56 and a 12 month high of $5.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.60.

Baytex Energy (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $325.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $228.04 million. Baytex Energy had a negative net margin of 24.25% and a negative return on equity of 10.85%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Baytex Energy Corp will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baytex Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.0225 dividend. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Baytex Energy’s payout ratio is -10.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BTE. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Baytex Energy in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Baytex Energy from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded Baytex Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 3rd. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Baytex Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, TD Securities restated a “hold” rating on shares of Baytex Energy in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.