B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) Trading Down 3.1%

B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO)’s stock price was down 3.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $2.78 and last traded at $2.80. Approximately 3,495,188 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 11,701,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on BTG shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on B2Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $3.50 price target on the stock. Finally, CIBC cut B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $4.20 to $3.60 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.10.

B2Gold Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 132.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $2.90.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $511.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $512.00 million. B2Gold had a net margin of 0.31% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 400.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On B2Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BTG. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of B2Gold by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 165,894,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $524,231,000 after acquiring an additional 9,971,331 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of B2Gold by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,399,970 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,104,000 after acquiring an additional 856,269 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of B2Gold by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 22,912,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,984 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of B2Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $50,125,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of B2Gold by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,747,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,472,000 after acquiring an additional 2,496,820 shares during the last quarter. 61.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

B2Gold Company Profile

B2Gold Corp. operates as a gold producer company. It operates the Fekola Mine in Mali, the Masbate Mine in the Philippines, and the Otjikoto Mine in Namibia. The company also has an 100% interest in the Gramalote gold project in Colombia; 24% interest in the Calibre Mining Corp.; and approximately 19% interest in BeMetals Corp.