Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 12,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BTG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of B2Gold in the 4th quarter valued at $40,192,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 22,658,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,436,000 after acquiring an additional 5,401,334 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,987,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,009,000 after acquiring an additional 3,939,040 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,139,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215,319 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,010,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,204 shares during the period. 61.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

B2Gold Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of BTG stock opened at $2.90 on Thursday. B2Gold Corp. has a 1-year low of $2.20 and a 1-year high of $3.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.43.

B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. B2Gold had a positive return on equity of 5.65% and a negative net margin of 33.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. B2Gold’s payout ratio is presently -17.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. CIBC lifted their price target on B2Gold from $3.30 to $3.60 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. National Bankshares reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of B2Gold in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Scotiabank upgraded B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Cormark upgraded B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Securities downgraded B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.21.

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.