Intact Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG)

Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) by 22.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,747,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,496,820 shares during the quarter. B2Gold makes up approximately 1.8% of Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.06% of B2Gold worth $43,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in B2Gold by 9.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 155,923,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $450,601,000 after buying an additional 12,836,388 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in B2Gold by 20.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,543,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,291,000 after buying an additional 8,177,437 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new position in B2Gold during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,223,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in B2Gold by 22.3% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,694,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,429,000 after buying an additional 672,764 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in B2Gold during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,826,000. 61.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BTG shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of B2Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $3.50 target price for the company. CIBC downgraded shares of B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $4.20 to $3.60 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, B2Gold currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.10.

B2Gold Stock Performance

Shares of B2Gold stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $2.62. 10,002,389 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,485,733. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.88. B2Gold Corp. has a 52-week low of $2.34 and a 52-week high of $4.29. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 131.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.09.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.01). B2Gold had a net margin of 0.31% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The firm had revenue of $511.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $512.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $0.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.11%. B2Gold’s payout ratio is 400.20%.

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.