Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 9,971,331 Shares of B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 165,894,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 9,971,331 shares during the quarter. B2Gold accounts for approximately 1.0% of Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.13% of B2Gold worth $524,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BTG. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 332.9% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,250,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,302,000 after purchasing an additional 8,651,430 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in B2Gold by 20.3% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in B2Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,223,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in B2Gold by 22.3% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in B2Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,826,000. 61.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on BTG. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on B2Gold in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $3.50 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, CIBC lowered B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $4.20 to $3.60 in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.10.

B2Gold Price Performance

Shares of B2Gold stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $2.64. 7,249,535 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,097,476. B2Gold Corp. has a 12-month low of $2.34 and a 12-month high of $4.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 132.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $2.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.01). B2Gold had a net margin of 0.31% and a return on equity of 9.09%. The business had revenue of $511.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $512.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.