Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Trading 22.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) traded up 22.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$2.58 and last traded at C$2.54. 14,022,296 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 195% from the average session volume of 4,751,239 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$2.08.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Baytex Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.50 to C$5.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on Baytex Energy from C$5.50 to C$5.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$4.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Atb Cap Markets downgraded Baytex Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Baytex Energy presently 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$1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 2.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$3.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$3.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.38, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Baytex Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 3.98%. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.