Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Takes Position in B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of B2Gold Corp. (NYSE:BTG) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 338,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BTG. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 66.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 17,875,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,058,000 after purchasing an additional 7,165,600 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in B2Gold by 69.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 11,596,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,837,000 after buying an additional 4,754,500 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in B2Gold during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,113,000. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in B2Gold during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,636,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in B2Gold by 16.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,915,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,235,000 after buying an additional 849,925 shares during the last quarter. 61.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BTG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America cut shares of B2Gold from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Securities cut shares of B2Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. CIBC reduced their target price on shares of B2Gold from $3.70 to $3.30 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cormark raised shares of B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.02.

B2Gold Stock Performance

BTG opened at $2.68 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.58, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.09. B2Gold Corp. has a 1-year low of $2.20 and a 1-year high of $3.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

B2Gold Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. B2Gold’s payout ratio is currently -16.67%.

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.