B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $4.02.

BTG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. CIBC cut their price target on B2Gold from $3.70 to $3.30 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. TD Securities cut B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Cormark raised B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America cut B2Gold from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Institutional Trading of B2Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in B2Gold by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 59,489,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,862,000 after acquiring an additional 438,399 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in B2Gold by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,010,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,204 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in B2Gold by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,186,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,335,000 after acquiring an additional 272,300 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in B2Gold by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,389,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,510,000 after acquiring an additional 130,638 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in B2Gold by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 22,658,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,436,000 after acquiring an additional 5,401,334 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BTG opened at $2.68 on Tuesday. B2Gold has a 12-month low of $2.20 and a 12-month high of $3.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.82. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of -5.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

B2Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently -16.67%.

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.