B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) Short Interest Down 5.2% in April

B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG - Get Free Report) TSE: BTO was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,560,000 shares, a drop of 5.2% from the March 31st total of 15,360,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 12,810,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BTG. CIBC lowered B2Gold from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $4.20 to $3.60 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of B2Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They set a "buy" rating and a $3.50 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $5.10.

Institutional Trading of B2Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BTG. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of B2Gold by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 165,894,403 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $524,231,000 after buying an additional 9,971,331 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of B2Gold by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,399,970 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $156,104,000 after acquiring an additional 856,269 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of B2Gold by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 22,912,152 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $72,403,000 after buying an additional 1,178,984 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of B2Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,125,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of B2Gold by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,747,050 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $43,472,000 after acquiring an additional 2,496,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.40% of the company's stock.

B2Gold Trading Down 3.6 %

NYSEAMERICAN BTG traded down $0.09 on Tuesday, reaching $2.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,464,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,065,807. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.56, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.27. B2Gold has a 52 week low of $2.34 and a 52 week high of $4.29. The company's 50-day moving average price is $2.87.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG - Get Free Report) TSE: BTO last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $511.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $512.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that B2Gold will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. B2Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 400.20%.

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.

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