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

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) dropped 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. Approximately 5,396,025 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 14,310,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.51.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America cut 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 report on Friday, November 8th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of B2Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on B2Gold from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $3.75 target price on shares of B2Gold in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, B2Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.02.

Institutional Trading of B2Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. E&G Advisors LP acquired a new position in B2Gold during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of B2Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new stake in B2Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in B2Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in B2Gold by 72.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 13,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 5,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Stock Down 0.6 %

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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $2.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of -4.19, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.09.

B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.03). B2Gold had a negative net margin of 38.42% and a positive return on equity of 7.53%. The firm had revenue of $448.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $449.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.77%. B2Gold’s payout ratio is -28.57%.

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.