Traders Take Profits In Low-Priced Energy Stocks

One group of stocks seemed to be the clear laggard in Thursday's holiday-shortened trading session: low-priced Energy stocks.

A cluster of these stocks had a strong week, capped by rallies on both Tuesday and Wednesday. While individual company-related news was not seen over the course of the week, crude oil prices that touched the highest level in nearly a month certainly might have helped guide trader's decisions.

A barrel of NYMEX crude oil, hitting a multi-year low at $34.53 last week, rebounded to around the $37.99 level as of late Thursday morning.

Here are a few low-priced, but notable stocks trading lower in the Energy sector Thursday, most of which are in the Exploration & Production industry:

• Denbury Resources Inc. DNR - down 5.7 percent following a ~22 percent rally on Wednesday
• EXCO Resources Inc XCO - down 10.7 percent following a ~27 percent run up
• Bill Barrett Corporation BBG - down 11 percent following a ~23 percent rise
• Bellatrix Exploration Ltd BXE - down 8 percent following a ~23 percent rise
• Azure Midstream Partners LP AZUR - down 8 percent following a ~35 percent move higher
• Mid-Con Energy Partners MCEP - down just 2.7 percent following a ~32 percent rise over Tuesday and Wednesday's sessions.