B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) Stock Price Down 2% After Analyst Downgrade

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG)’s share price fell 2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after CIBC lowered their price target on the stock from $3.70 to $3.30. CIBC currently has a neutral rating on the stock. B2Gold traded as low as $2.43 and last traded at $2.46. 5,396,025 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 14,310,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.51.

BTG has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of B2Gold from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America cut shares of B2Gold from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $3.75 price target on shares of B2Gold in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut shares of B2Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.02.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B2Gold

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Old West Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of B2Gold in the third quarter worth approximately $670,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in B2Gold by 0.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 59,489,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,862,000 after buying an additional 438,399 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new position in B2Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,636,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its holdings in B2Gold by 133.8% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,977,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,334,000 after buying an additional 1,131,534 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in B2Gold by 62.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 95,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 36,555 shares during the period. 61.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

B2Gold Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $2.65 and its 200 day moving average is $2.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of -4.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.09.

B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $448.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $449.28 million. B2Gold had a negative net margin of 38.42% and a positive return on equity of 7.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.72%. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -28.57%.

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.