B2Gold (TSE:BTO) Insider Sells C$1,268,680.40 in Stock

B2Gold Corp. (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG) insider William Lytle sold 177,190 shares of B2Gold stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 41,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$295,600.60. This trade represents a 81.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

William Lytle also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, July 3rd, William Lytle sold 14,089 shares of B2Gold stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$5.88, for a total value of C$82,843.32.

B2Gold Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of BTO traded up C$0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching C$7.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,675,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,163,337. B2Gold Corp. has a 12-month low of C$5.02 and a 12-month high of C$8.60. The stock has a market cap of C$9.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.48, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 3.33. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$5.70 and its 200 day moving average is C$6.43.

B2Gold (TSE:BTO) (NYSE:BTG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.04 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$1.12 billion during the quarter. B2Gold had a net margin of 21.20% and a return on equity of 21.87%. Equities analysts anticipate that B2Gold Corp. 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. B2Gold’s payout ratio is currently 14.29%.

Key Headlines Impacting B2Gold

Here are the key news stories impacting B2Gold this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broad-based analyst upgrades: TD Securities raised B2Gold from “hold” to “strong-buy,” while Scotiabank also upgraded the shares to “strong-buy.” The unusually broad agreement among major Canadian brokers may reinforce investor confidence. Zacks analyst upgrade report
• Positive Sentiment: Higher TD valuation: TD previously raised its rating to “buy” and increased its price target to C$8.50 from C$6.00, implying meaningful upside based on the reference price at the time. BayStreet analyst ratings report
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank sees greater upside: Scotia upgraded B2Gold from “sector perform” to “sector outperform” and set a C$10.00 target, substantially above the recent trading level. BayStreet Scotia upgrade report
• Positive Sentiment: ATB issued the most bullish target: ATB Cormark upgraded the stock from “hold” to “moderate buy” and lifted its target to C$11.00 from C$6.50. Its subsequent rating update adds to the positive broker momentum. American Banking News ATB Cormark upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Additional confirmation: CIBC also upgraded B2Gold from “hold” to “strong-buy,” adding another bullish institutional view. Ticker Report CIBC upgrade

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BTO. National Bank Financial reduced their price target on shares of B2Gold from C$10.70 to C$9.75 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Scotia upgraded B2Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a C$10.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday. TD raised B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from C$6.00 to C$8.50 in a research note on Monday. ATB Cormark Capital Markets raised B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$6.50 to C$11.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of C$9.33.

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.