Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in B2Gold Corp $BTG

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of B2Gold Corp (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 407,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,524,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BTG. Pale Fire Capital SE lifted its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 77.4% in the first quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 69,740,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $315,923,000 after buying an additional 30,428,530 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of B2Gold during the 2nd quarter valued at $107,805,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of B2Gold during the 2nd quarter valued at $63,960,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of B2Gold in the fourth quarter worth $75,333,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of B2Gold by 248.2% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 23,342,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $105,264,000 after purchasing an additional 16,639,601 shares during the period. 61.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on B2Gold from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on B2Gold from $5.75 to $5.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. TD Securities upgraded shares of B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded shares of B2Gold from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Scotiabank raised B2Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, B2Gold has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $6.17.

B2Gold Price Performance

BTG opened at $5.66 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58. B2Gold Corp has a 1 year low of $3.57 and a 1 year high of $6.28. The firm has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.66.

B2Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) (TSE:BTO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.04). B2Gold had a net margin of 21.47% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company had revenue of $789.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $836.33 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that B2Gold Corp will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

B2Gold Company Profile

B2Gold Corp. is a Canadian-based intermediate gold producer with a diversified portfolio of operating mines and advanced-stage development projects. Founded in 2007 through the merger of Bema Gold and CGA Mining, the company has grown to become one of the world’s largest new gold producers. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, B2Gold focuses on efficient, low-cost operations across several continents, combining exploration, development and production within a single strategic framework.

The company’s flagship assets include the Fekola mine in Mali, which commenced production in 2017, the Otjikoto mine in Namibia, and the Masbate mine in the Philippines.