B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) by 19.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 859,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 206,335 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned about 0.07% of B2Gold worth $2,718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in B2Gold by 9.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 155,923,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $450,601,000 after purchasing an additional 12,836,388 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of B2Gold by 332.9% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,250,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,302,000 after buying an additional 8,651,430 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in B2Gold by 20.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,543,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,291,000 after acquiring an additional 8,177,437 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in B2Gold by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,177,843 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,170,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064,751 shares during the period. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new position in B2Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,223,000. 61.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

B2Gold Price Performance

Shares of BTG traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,531,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,765,339. B2Gold Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $2.34 and a fifty-two week high of $4.29. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 128.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $2.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $461.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $453.81 million. B2Gold had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 0.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.13%. B2Gold’s payout ratio is 400.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BTG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. CIBC downgraded shares of B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $4.20 to $3.60 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of B2Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $3.50 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, B2Gold has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.10.

B2Gold 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.