Cibc World Mkts Lowers B2Gold (TSE:BTO) to Hold

Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of B2Gold (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on BTO. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of B2Gold from C$7.50 to C$7.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 17th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of B2Gold from C$6.50 to C$6.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on B2Gold from C$6.50 to C$6.00 in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of B2Gold from C$5.50 to C$5.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Cormark upped their target price on B2Gold from C$5.00 to C$5.50 in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of C$5.95.

B2Gold Stock Performance

Shares of TSE BTO opened at C$4.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.00, a P/E/G ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 1.15. B2Gold has a 52-week low of C$3.18 and a 52-week high of C$5.05. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$3.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$3.70.

B2Gold (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.07 by C$0.01. B2Gold had a negative net margin of 1.88% and a negative return on equity of 0.33%. The firm had revenue of C$622.09 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that B2Gold will post 0.3689788 earnings per share for the current year.

B2Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 24th were paid a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 11th. This is a positive change from B2Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.30%. B2Gold’s payout ratio is presently -440.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Daniel Bruce Moore sold 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$3.88, for a total value of C$582,000.00. In other news, Senior Officer Randall Chatwin sold 12,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$3.72, for a total transaction of C$46,574.40. Also, Senior Officer Daniel Bruce Moore sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$3.88, for a total value of C$582,000.00. Over the last three months, insiders sold 162,575 shares of company stock valued at $628,781. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.