B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) Short Interest Update

B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,740,000 shares, a growth of 12.9% from the May 31st total of 15,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 12,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BTG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4.57.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B2Gold

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in B2Gold by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 165,894,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $524,231,000 after purchasing an additional 9,971,331 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,399,970 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,104,000 after purchasing an additional 856,269 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in B2Gold by 142.9% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 27,216,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,360,000 after buying an additional 16,011,832 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in B2Gold by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 22,912,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,403,000 after buying an additional 1,178,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in B2Gold in the 4th quarter valued at $50,125,000. 61.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

B2Gold Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of B2Gold stock traded down $0.02 on Monday, reaching $2.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,070,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,534,241. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -89.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.80. B2Gold has a 52-week low of $2.34 and a 52-week high of $3.83.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $461.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $453.81 million. B2Gold had a negative net margin of 2.10% and a positive return on equity of 8.05%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that B2Gold will post 0.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 11th were paid a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 11th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently -533.16%.

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.