Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Invests $278,000 in B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new stake in B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 97,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of B2Gold by 146.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 546,256 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 324,491 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of B2Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of B2Gold in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $829,000. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in B2Gold during the fourth quarter worth approximately $329,000. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in B2Gold by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,139,040 shares of the company's stock worth $21,243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215,319 shares during the period. 61.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial upgraded B2Gold to a "moderate buy" rating and set a $4.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of B2Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. National Bankshares reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of B2Gold in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of B2Gold from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Cormark raised shares of B2Gold from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $4.21.

B2Gold Stock Performance

Shares of B2Gold stock opened at $3.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.60, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $3.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2.96. B2Gold Corp. has a 1-year low of $2.20 and a 1-year high of $3.83.

B2Gold (NYSE:BTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. B2Gold had a negative net margin of 33.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.65%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.4 EPS for the current year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 11th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. B2Gold's dividend payout ratio is presently -17.02%.

About B2Gold

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.

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