Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Baytex Energy Corp (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BTE. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Baytex Energy in a report on Monday, May 11th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Baytex Energy in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Baytex Energy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,449,680 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $95,270,000 after acquiring an additional 374,972 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Baytex Energy by 816.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 22,003,118 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $98,381,000 after buying an additional 19,601,808 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 43.9% in the first quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,071,614 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $89,695,000 after buying an additional 6,123,098 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Baytex Energy by 7.4% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 10,710,876 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $19,172,000 after buying an additional 738,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Baytex Energy by 176.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 10,287,145 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $33,321,000 after acquiring an additional 6,564,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.15% of the company’s stock.

Baytex Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BTE opened at $4.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 2.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.14. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of -6.29 and a beta of 0.40. Baytex Energy has a one year low of $1.93 and a one year high of $5.36.

Baytex Energy (NYSE:BTE) (TSE:BTE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by ($0.09). Baytex Energy had a negative return on equity of 10.85% and a negative net margin of 24.25%.The company had revenue of $325.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.04 million. On average, analysts forecast that Baytex Energy will post 0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Baytex Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.0225 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -10.00%.

Baytex Energy Company Profile

Baytex Energy Corp. is an oil & gas exploration and production company. The firm engages in the acquisition, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and in the Eagle Ford in the United States. The company was founded on June 3, 1993 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.