Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on B2Gold (NYSE:BTG)

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 13,026 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 279% compared to the average daily volume of 3,436 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On B2Gold

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. bought a new position in shares of B2Gold during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in shares of B2Gold during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of B2Gold during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 176.1% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 12,935 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 8,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new position in shares of B2Gold during the third quarter valued at $35,000. 61.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

B2Gold Stock Down 3.0 %

BTG stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $3.12. The stock had a trading volume of 15,624,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,794,519. B2Gold has a 52-week low of $2.20 and a 52-week high of $3.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $2.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

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B2Gold Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. B2Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently -16.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. CIBC lifted their target price on B2Gold from $3.30 to $3.60 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Cormark upgraded B2Gold from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. TD Securities downgraded B2Gold from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded B2Gold from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $4.12.

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.