Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $2.72 Million Stake in B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in shares of B2Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 859,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 206,335 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in B2Gold were worth $2,718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in B2Gold in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of B2Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of B2Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Kellett Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of B2Gold in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory bought a new stake in B2Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.40% of the company’s stock.

B2Gold Trading Up 2.8 %

BTG stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $2.61. 3,531,232 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,765,339. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. B2Gold Corp. has a twelve month low of $2.34 and a twelve month high of $4.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.01. B2Gold had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 0.31%. The company had revenue of $461.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $453.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. B2Gold’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that B2Gold Corp. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 6.13%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. B2Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 400.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BTG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC downgraded shares of B2Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $4.20 to $3.60 in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of B2Gold from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on B2Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $3.50 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.10.

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.