B2Gold (NYSE:BTG) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $3.15, but opened at $3.02. B2Gold shares last traded at $3.09, with a volume of 4,527,269 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BTG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of B2Gold from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Securities lowered B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $4.50 price target on shares of B2Gold in a research note on Friday, April 4th. CIBC raised their price objective on B2Gold from $3.30 to $3.60 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, National Bankshares reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of B2Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, B2Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.21.

B2Gold Trading Down 2.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.42, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $2.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

B2Gold Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently -16.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On B2Gold

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in B2Gold by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,010,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,823,000 after buying an additional 1,165,204 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of B2Gold by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,186,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,335,000 after acquiring an additional 272,300 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of B2Gold by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,389,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,510,000 after purchasing an additional 130,638 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in B2Gold by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 22,658,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,436,000 after purchasing an additional 5,401,334 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in B2Gold by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 20,675,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799,520 shares during the period. 61.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About B2Gold

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.