American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stake in B2Gold Corp. $BTG

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) by 12.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,730,477 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,206,141 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in B2Gold were worth $107,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in B2Gold by 5.9% in the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 83,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 4,623 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 44,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 6,692 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its stake in B2Gold by 7.5% in the first quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 137,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 9,632 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in B2Gold during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in B2Gold by 7.3% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 153,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,000 after buying an additional 10,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Stock Performance

Shares of BTG opened at $4.33 on Wednesday. B2Gold Corp. has a 52-week low of $2.20 and a 52-week high of $5.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.44.

B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.01. B2Gold had a positive return on equity of 5.65% and a negative net margin of 33.12%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 74.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BTG. Zacks Research cut B2Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of B2Gold in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Cormark downgraded shares of B2Gold from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of B2Gold from $4.75 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, CIBC lowered their price target on shares of B2Gold to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.00.

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.