B2Gold (TSE:BTO) Upgraded at ATB Cormark Capital Markets

ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded shares of B2Gold (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG) from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. ATB Cormark Capital Markets currently has C$11.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of C$6.50.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on BTO. National Bank Financial decreased their price objective on B2Gold from C$10.70 to C$9.75 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Scotia raised shares of B2Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a C$10.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD raised shares of B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$6.00 to C$8.50 in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, B2Gold currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$9.33.

B2Gold Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of BTO stock opened at C$7.25 on Monday. B2Gold has a 12-month low of C$5.02 and a 12-month high of C$8.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$5.72 and its 200-day moving average price is C$6.43. The stock has a market capitalization of C$9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 1.74.

B2Gold (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.04 EPS for the quarter. B2Gold had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 21.20%.The company had revenue of C$1.12 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that B2Gold will post 0.5596659 EPS for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 14.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Neil Reeder sold 8,482 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$5.88, for a total value of C$49,874.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 10,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$59,193.96. This trade represents a 45.73% decrease in their position. Also, insider William Lytle sold 177,190 shares of B2Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$7.16, for a total value of C$1,268,680.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$295,600.60. This trade represents a 81.10% decrease in their position. Over the last three months, insiders sold 404,442 shares of company stock worth $2,670,056. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting B2Gold

Here are the key news stories impacting B2Gold this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple broker upgrades: CIBC raised B2Gold from “hold” to “strong buy,” while TD Securities made the same upgrade. Scotiabank also upgraded the shares from “hold” to “strong buy” and raised its rating to “sector outperform.” CIBC upgrade Scotiabank upgrade TD upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Broader analyst support: ATB Cormark also raised its rating on B2Gold, adding to the increasingly bullish analyst view and potentially encouraging additional buying from investors. ATB Cormark upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: The ratings changes represent a shift in analyst sentiment but do not include a new production, earnings, or corporate announcement. Investors may therefore continue to focus on gold prices and B2Gold’s operating results to validate the upgrades. Canadian analyst updates
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director William Lytle sold 177,190 shares for approximately C$1.27 million, reducing his direct holdings by 81.1% to 41,285 shares. The transaction could temper bullish sentiment, although insider sales can reflect personal financial planning rather than a view on the company’s outlook.

B2Gold Company Profile

B2Gold is a responsible international gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has operating gold mines in Canada, Mali, Namibia and the Philippines, and numerous development and exploration projects in various countries.