B2Gold (TSE:BTO) Shares Up 3.7% After Analyst Upgrade

B2Gold Corp. (TSE:BTO - Get Free Report) NYSE: BTG's share price shot up 3.7% during trading on Monday after Cormark upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating. The company traded as high as C$4.83 and last traded at C$4.76. 2,662,797 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 3,931,418 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$4.59.

BTO has been the subject of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on B2Gold from C$7.00 to C$6.50 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank upgraded B2Gold from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America cut B2Gold from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of B2Gold from C$6.50 to C$7.50 in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Securities cut shares of B2Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of C$5.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at B2Gold

In other news, Senior Officer Eduard Bartz sold 27,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$3.89, for a total transaction of C$108,383.18. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16 shares of the company's stock, valued at C$62.24. This represents a 99.94 % decrease in their position. Also, Director Gregory Barnes acquired 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$4.07 per share, for a total transaction of C$203,500.00. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 535,145 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,177. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

B2Gold Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.94, a P/E/G ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 1.23. The stock's fifty day moving average price is C$4.20 and its 200-day moving average price is C$3.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.51.

B2Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. B2Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -25.32%.

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.