B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) Short Interest Update

B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,740,000 shares, a growth of 12.9% from the May 31st total of 15,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 12,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BTG. StockNews.com raised B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4.57.

B2Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN:BTG opened at $2.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of -89.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $2.79. B2Gold has a 52-week low of $2.34 and a 52-week high of $3.83.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.01. B2Gold had a positive return on equity of 8.05% and a negative net margin of 2.10%. The firm had revenue of $461.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $453.81 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that B2Gold will post 0.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.93%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 11th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -533.16%.

Institutional Trading of B2Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BTG. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in B2Gold by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 92,937 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 4,155 shares during the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory grew its stake in shares of B2Gold by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 20,731 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 4,173 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 425,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 5,511 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 25,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 6,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 151,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 9,723 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

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.