Raymond James Financial Upgrades Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) to Outperform

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a C$7.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of C$5.50. Raymond James Financial’s target price suggests a potential upside of 14.94% from the company’s current price.

BTE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Baytex Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. 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. Canaccord Genuity Group cut Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. National Bank Financial increased their target price on shares of 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, Scotiabank raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Baytex Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$5.54.

Baytex Energy Trading Up 1.5%

TSE:BTE traded up C$0.09 during trading hours on Monday, reaching C$6.09. 7,980,950 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,486,100. The firm has a market cap of C$4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.81, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of C$5.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$4.34. Baytex Energy has a 52-week low of C$1.91 and a 52-week high of C$6.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Baytex Energy will post 0.3703367 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Baytex Energy

In related news, insider Chad Lundberg acquired 11,500 shares of Baytex Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$4.36 per share, for a total transaction of C$50,140.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 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.