Birchcliff Energy (TSE:BIR) Stock Price Up 12.1% – Time to Buy?

Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (TSE:BIR)’s stock price traded up 12.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$5.95 and last traded at C$5.94. 448,563 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 1,226,750 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$5.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. National Bank Financial raised shares of Birchcliff Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Birchcliff Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. CIBC upgraded shares of Birchcliff Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from C$7.00 to C$8.00 in a report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Birchcliff Energy from C$6.00 to C$5.75 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Cormark upgraded shares of Birchcliff Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Birchcliff Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of C$7.04.

Birchcliff Energy Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 27.63. The company has a market capitalization of C$1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$5.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$5.52.

Birchcliff Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Birchcliff Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 700.63%.

Birchcliff Energy Company Profile

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.