Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (TSE:BIR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• MarketBeat shows a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from five brokerages (2 holds, 2 buys, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month target price of C$8.50.
• Two major brokers recently downgraded the stock—CIBC cut its rating from outperform to hold and trimmed its target from C$9.50 to C$8.50, while BMO cut from outperform to hold and lowered its target from C$8.50 to C$7.00—indicating more cautious analyst views.
• Birchcliff traded at C$6.61 with a market cap of C$1.82B and a PE of ~27.5, and pays a quarterly dividend of C$0.03 (annualized yield ~1.8%, dividend payout ratio 50%).

Shares of Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (TSE:BIR - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$8.50.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce downgraded Birchcliff Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from C$9.50 to C$8.50 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut Birchcliff Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from C$8.50 to C$7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th.

Birchcliff Energy Stock Performance

TSE BIR opened at C$6.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of C$1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of -0.30. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is C$6.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$6.98. Birchcliff Energy has a 1-year low of C$5.69 and a 1-year high of C$8.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.56, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Birchcliff Energy (TSE:BIR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The oil and natural gas company reported C$0.10 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$164.42 million for the quarter. Birchcliff Energy had a return on equity of 2.90% and a net margin of 9.27%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Birchcliff Energy will post 0.1118631 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Birchcliff Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Birchcliff Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.00%.

About Birchcliff Energy

Birchcliff Energy Ltd is an intermediate oil and gas company that explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, light oil, and natural gas liquids. The company conducts its drilling program in resource plays located in the Peace River Arch region of Alberta. Birchcliff focuses on operating nearly all its high working production, which is surrounded by blocks of high working interest lands where it owns and/or controls the infrastructure. To get the full value out of its natural gas wells, several gas plants are completely owned and operated for gas processing purposes.

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