Investors Purchase High Volume of B2Gold Put Options (NYSE:BTG)

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 11,272 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 291% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,886 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 166,079,133 shares of the company's stock valued at $566,312,000 after purchasing an additional 47,967,010 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of B2Gold by 0.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 59,489,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $183,862,000 after buying an additional 438,399 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 66.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 17,875,880 shares of the company's stock worth $55,058,000 after buying an additional 7,165,600 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of B2Gold by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,158,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,824,000 after acquiring an additional 282,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of B2Gold by 69.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 11,596,488 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,837,000 after acquiring an additional 4,754,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BTG has been the subject of several recent research reports. CIBC decreased their price target on B2Gold from $3.70 to $3.30 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of B2Gold from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of B2Gold from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded B2Gold from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, B2Gold currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $4.02.

B2Gold Stock Performance

B2Gold stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $2.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 69,926,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,236,781. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.29, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.09. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $2.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.87. B2Gold has a 12-month low of $2.20 and a 12-month high of $3.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.83.

B2Gold (NYSE:BTG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $448.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $449.28 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.05 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that B2Gold will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

B2Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. B2Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently -28.57%.

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.