B2Gold (TSE:BTO) Trading 3.7% Higher - Time to Buy?

B2Gold Corp. (TSE:BTO - Get Free Report) NYSE: BTG shares rose 3.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$4.00 and last traded at C$3.92. Approximately 1,795,036 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 3,794,703 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$3.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BTO. TD Securities downgraded shares of B2Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on B2Gold from C$7.00 to C$6.50 in a report on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America downgraded B2Gold from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Cormark lowered B2Gold from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$5.94.

B2Gold Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$4.03 and a 200-day moving average price of C$3.98. The firm has a market cap of C$4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.27 and a beta of 1.23.

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B2Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. B2Gold's payout ratio is currently -25.32%.

Insider Activity

In other B2Gold news, Director Gregory Barnes bought 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$4.07 per share, for a total transaction of C$203,500.00. Also, Senior Officer Eduard Bartz sold 13,161 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$3.79, for a total value of C$49,880.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16 shares of the company's stock, valued at C$60.64. This represents a 99.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 415,145 shares of company stock valued at $1,635,577 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.66% 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.