B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $4.85.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BTG. CIBC cut B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $4.20 to $3.60 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on B2Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $3.50 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 28th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BTG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of B2Gold in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,125,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of B2Gold by 9.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 155,923,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $450,601,000 after buying an additional 12,836,388 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of B2Gold by 332.9% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,250,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,302,000 after buying an additional 8,651,430 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of B2Gold by 20.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,543,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,291,000 after buying an additional 8,177,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of B2Gold by 159.3% in the first quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 13,262,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,254,000 after buying an additional 8,147,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Stock Performance

NYSEAMERICAN BTG opened at $2.65 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $2.90. B2Gold has a one year low of $2.34 and a one year high of $4.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.09.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last issued 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). B2Gold had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 0.31%. The company had revenue of $511.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $512.00 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that B2Gold will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

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

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.