B2Gold Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BTG)

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 11,272 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 291% compared to the average volume of 2,886 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B2Gold

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BTG. Old West Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of B2Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $670,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in B2Gold by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 59,489,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,862,000 after acquiring an additional 438,399 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP bought a new position in B2Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,636,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of B2Gold by 133.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,977,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,334,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 46.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,075,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,544,000 after purchasing an additional 661,107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Trading Down 0.2 %

BTG traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $2.35. 40,440,273 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,465,225. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of -4.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.09. B2Gold has a one year low of $2.20 and a one year high of $3.50. 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 (NYSE:BTG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.03). B2Gold had a negative net margin of 38.42% and a positive return on equity of 7.53%. The firm had revenue of $448.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $449.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that B2Gold will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.04 dividend. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. B2Gold’s payout ratio is -28.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BTG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on B2Gold from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. CIBC reduced their price target on B2Gold from $3.70 to $3.30 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded B2Gold from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.02.

B2Gold Company 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.