Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on B2Gold (NYSE:BTG)

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 13,026 call options on the company. This is an increase of 279% compared to the average daily volume of 3,436 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B2Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Old West Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in B2Gold in the third quarter valued at $670,000. FMR LLC increased 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 last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of B2Gold during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,636,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 46.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,075,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,544,000 after purchasing an additional 661,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in B2Gold by 62.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 95,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 36,555 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Stock Performance

B2Gold stock opened at $3.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.83, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.83. B2Gold has a fifty-two week low of $2.20 and a fifty-two week high of $3.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.82.

B2Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently -16.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Cormark raised B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. TD Securities cut B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. CIBC reduced their price target on B2Gold from $3.70 to $3.30 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America cut B2Gold from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.02.

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.