Brokerages Set Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) Target Price at C$4.79

Shares of Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$4.79.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial raised Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.25 to C$5.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. TD Securities lowered shares of Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a C$5.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from C$3.00 to C$6.00 in a report on Thursday, November 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Baytex Energy Price Performance

Shares of TSE BTE opened at C$5.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 48.05, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$4.74 and a 200-day moving average of C$4.02. The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 1.02. Baytex Energy has a fifty-two week low of C$1.91 and a fifty-two week high of C$5.58.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported C($1.11) EPS for the quarter. Baytex Energy had a net margin of 5.60% and a return on equity of 5.16%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Baytex Energy will post 0.3703367 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baytex Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.0225 per share. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Baytex Energy’s payout ratio is currently 32.14%.

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.