Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Stock Price Down 13% After Analyst Downgrade

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE)’s stock price fell 13% during trading on Thursday after CIBC lowered their price target on the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.25. The stock traded as low as C$2.19 and last traded at C$2.21. 4,710,195 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 1% from the average session volume of 4,745,577 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$2.54.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised Baytex Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. TD Securities cut their price objective on Baytex Energy from C$5.50 to C$5.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$4.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.50 to C$5.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Baytex Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Baytex Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$5.33.

Baytex Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 2.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.38, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$3.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$3.64.

Baytex Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.0225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. Baytex Energy’s payout ratio is -20.48%.

About Baytex Energy

Baytex Energy Corp., an energy company, engages in the acquisition, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and in the Eagle Ford, the United States. The company offers light oil and condensate, heavy oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas.