Insider Buying: Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Director Acquires 20,000 Shares of Stock

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) Director Mark Bly purchased 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$4.50 per share, with a total value of C$90,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 575,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,590,371. This trade represents a 3.60% increase in their position.

Baytex Energy Trading Up 0.2%

TSE:BTE traded up C$0.01 on Friday, hitting C$4.35. 1,645,836 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,497,106. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$4.02 and a 200-day moving average of C$3.33. The stock has a market cap of C$3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.38. Baytex Energy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of C$1.91 and a fifty-two week high of C$4.65.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported C$0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$746.42 million during the quarter. Baytex Energy had a negative return on equity of 8.96% and a negative net margin of 10.45%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Baytex Energy Corp. will post 0.3703367 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Baytex Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be given a $0.0225 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BTE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$4.00 to C$5.25 in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. TD Securities upped their target price on Baytex Energy from C$4.75 to C$5.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$3.00 to C$6.00 in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, National Bankshares reduced their price target on Baytex Energy from C$4.75 to C$4.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Baytex Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$4.79.

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.