Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$6.35 and last traded at C$6.22, with a volume of 13124689 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$6.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Baytex Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.75 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Baytex Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. National Bank Financial boosted their price objective 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. Raymond James Financial raised Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from C$5.50 to C$7.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Baytex Energy from C$5.25 to C$5.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$5.54.

Baytex Energy Stock Up 2.3%

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is C$5.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$4.38. The company has a market cap of C$4.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.97, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 3.61.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported C($1.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Baytex Energy had a negative return on equity of 16.25% and a negative net margin of 40.77%. On average, research analysts forecast that Baytex Energy Corp. will post 0.3703367 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 Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.0225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -11.54%.

Insider Transactions at Baytex Energy

In related news, insider Chad Lundberg bought 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$6.15 per share, for a total transaction of C$67,650.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 613,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$3,772,416.15. This 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.