B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) Shares Up 3.8%

B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) traded up 3.8% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $3.04 and last traded at $3.01. 3,475,596 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 11,463,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.90.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. CIBC lowered B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $4.20 to $3.60 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. 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, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, B2Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.10.

B2Gold Price Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 144.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $511.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $512.00 million. B2Gold had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 0.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 400.20%.

Institutional Trading of B2Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 13.0% during the first quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 26,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 38,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 3,600 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of B2Gold by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 87,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in B2Gold by 4.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 92,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 4,155 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory lifted its holdings in B2Gold by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 20,731 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 4,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

About B2Gold

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.