Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Trading Down 13% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) dropped 13% on Friday after CIBC lowered their price target on the stock from C$5.00 to C$4.25. The company traded as low as C$2.16 and last traded at C$2.21. Approximately 10,479,806 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 117% from the average daily volume of 4,833,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$2.54.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BTE. Atb Cap Markets cut shares of Baytex Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Baytex Energy from C$5.00 to C$4.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Baytex Energy from C$5.50 to C$5.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Securities cut their price objective on Baytex Energy from C$5.50 to C$5.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Baytex Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Baytex Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$5.33.

Baytex Energy Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.38, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of C$1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.14, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 2.61. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$3.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$3.62.

Baytex Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.0225 per share. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Baytex Energy’s dividend payout ratio 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.