Raymond James Financial Increases Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Price Target to C$8.00

Key Points

• Raymond James raised its price target on Baytex Energy to C$8.00 and keeps an outperform rating, implying about a 19.94% upside from the prior close.
• The analyst picture is mixed but constructive: the consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target of C$7.00 (five Buy and five Hold ratings), and several firms recently lifted their targets.
• Shares traded at C$6.67 (up ~0.5% intraday); the company shows negative EPS/ROE and a high debt-to-equity of 4.94, while insiders purchased ~49,800 shares last quarter, modestly increasing their holdings.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BTE had its target price hoisted by investment analysts at Raymond James Financial from C$7.00 to C$8.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial's price objective points to a potential upside of 19.94% from the stock's previous close.

BTE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.25 to C$5.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$6.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Baytex Energy from C$7.00 to C$8.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. TD Securities lifted their target price on Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$5.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised Baytex Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$5.25 to C$7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of C$7.00.

Baytex Energy Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of BTE traded up C$0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting C$6.67. The stock had a trading volume of 4,958,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,523,539. The stock's 50 day moving average is C$5.86 and its 200 day moving average is C$4.87. The firm has a market cap of C$4.92 billion, a PE ratio of -8.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 3.61 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Baytex Energy has a 1 year low of C$2.18 and a 1 year high of C$7.14.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BTE last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C($0.09) 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%.The firm had revenue of C$401.37 million during the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Baytex Energy will post 0.3703367 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Baytex Energy news, insider James Robert Maclean bought 10,000 shares of Baytex Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$5.73 per share, with a total value of C$57,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 185,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$1,061,895.06. This represents a 5.70% increase in their position. Also, insider Chadwick Kalmakoff bought 15,000 shares of Baytex Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$5.73 per share, for a total transaction of C$85,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 382,331 shares in the company, valued at C$2,190,756.63. This represents a 4.08% increase in their ownership of the stock. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 49,800 shares of company stock valued at $293,188. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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