B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) Trading Down 2% on 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.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on BTG. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on B2Gold from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America lowered B2Gold from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Cibc World Mkts cut B2Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued 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 assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.02.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B2Gold

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. E&G Advisors LP bought a new position in B2Gold in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of B2Gold during the third quarter worth $33,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new position in shares of B2Gold during the third quarter worth $35,000. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in B2Gold during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in B2Gold by 35.0% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.09. 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 (NYSE:BTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $448.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.05 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.04 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.77%. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.