Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) Share Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE)’s share price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$5.77 and traded as high as C$5.92. Baytex Energy shares last traded at C$5.87, with a volume of 3,705,665 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BTE. Scotia boosted their price target on shares of Baytex Energy from C$6.50 to C$7.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on Baytex Energy from C$7.50 to C$8.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Baytex Energy from C$6.50 to C$7.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Baytex Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from C$5.25 to C$7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, TD raised their price target on Baytex Energy from C$6.00 to C$6.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Baytex Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$7.00.

Baytex Energy Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$6.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$5.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.84, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market cap of C$4.18 billion, a PE ratio of -6.11, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 0.41.

Baytex Energy (TSE:BTE) (NYSE:BTE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$401.37 million during the quarter. Baytex Energy had a negative return on equity of 23.15% and a negative net margin of 83.88%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Baytex Energy Corp. will post 0.3703367 EPS for the current year.

Baytex Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.0225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Baytex Energy’s payout ratio is -7.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen David Lile Reynish sold 77,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$6.85, for a total transaction of C$531,560.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$105,490. This represents a 83.44% decrease in their position. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Baytex Energy Company Profile

Baytex Energy Corp. is a Calgary -based energy company committed to driving shareholder value through disciplined execution. It operates a high-quality, high-return portfolio in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, featuring the Pembina Duvernay and heavy oil plays in Alberta and Saskatchewan. These core assets are backed by an extensive drilling inventory and consistently generate strong cash flow.