B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $6.00.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of B2Gold from $4.75 to $6.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of B2Gold in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded B2Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. CIBC reduced their price target on B2Gold to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Cormark cut B2Gold from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B2Gold

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BTG. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of B2Gold by 119.9% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 34,306,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,897,000 after buying an additional 18,703,995 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in B2Gold during the 2nd quarter worth about $60,516,000. Pale Fire Capital SE grew its holdings in B2Gold by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 64,838,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,789,000 after acquiring an additional 12,419,383 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of B2Gold in the 1st quarter worth about $24,949,000. Finally, Continental General Insurance Co. acquired a new position in shares of B2Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,524,000. 61.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

B2Gold Stock Performance

Shares of BTG stock opened at $4.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.38, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.09. B2Gold has a 12 month low of $2.20 and a 12 month high of $5.94.

B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.02 earnings per share. B2Gold’s revenue was up 74.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that B2Gold will post 0.4 EPS for the current year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be given 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 currently 57.14%.

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.