B2Gold (TSE:BTO) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

B2Gold Corp. (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$8.36 and last traded at C$8.35, with a volume of 13191933 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$7.85.

B2Gold News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting B2Gold this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts/commentary are flagging a return to profitability and the prospect of higher shareholder returns (dividend increase and buybacks), which supports upside to valuation and is a clear positive catalyst for the stock. Profit Rebound, Dividend Hike and Buyback Could Be A Game Changer For B2Gold (TSX:BTO)
• Neutral Sentiment: B2Gold announced a leadership transition: founder/CEO Clive (Clive) Johnson will retire in June and the company named a successor (Mike Cinnamond), providing clarity around succession — this reduces uncertainty but invites scrutiny of the new CEO’s execution. B2Gold Announces Leadership Transition
• Negative Sentiment: An insider, Randall Chatwin, sold 20,000 shares at about C$7.25 and reduced their holding by ~76%, which investors can view negatively as a signal of decreased insider conviction or personal liquidity needs; sizable insider selling often weighs on sentiment short-term.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of B2Gold from C$11.50 to C$10.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Cormark cut shares of B2Gold from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their price objective on shares of B2Gold from C$9.25 to C$10.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$8.31.

B2Gold Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is C$6.76 and its 200 day moving average is C$6.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.51, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market capitalization of C$11.16 billion, a PE ratio of 55.67, a P/E/G ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 1.02.

B2Gold (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported C$0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. B2Gold had a negative return on equity of 20.27% and a negative net margin of 38.20%.The company had revenue of C$1.41 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.5596659 earnings per share for the current year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Randall Chatwin sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$7.25, for a total value of C$145,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 6,199 shares in the company, valued at C$44,942.75. This represents a 76.34% decrease in their position. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Company Profile

B2Gold Corp is an international, low-cost, senior gold mining company. It has three operating open-pit gold mines in Mali, Namibia, and the Philippines and numerous exploration projects across four continents. Other significant assets include the Gramalote and Kiaka gold projects. The company focuses on acquiring and developing interests in mineral properties with a primary focus on gold deposits as gold production forms all its revenue. There is no dependence on a particular purchaser because the gold is sold into a global market.