Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Stock Price Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX)’s share price rose 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $23.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as high as $18.18 and last traded at $17.95. Approximately 8,029,380 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 21,546,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.78.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on GOLD. National Bank Financial reiterated a “sector perform overweight” rating on shares of Barrick Gold in a research report on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Barrick Gold from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, CIBC increased their price objective on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barrick Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrick Gold

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Clean Yield Group acquired a new position in Barrick Gold in the first quarter valued at $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Barrick Gold by 175.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Barrick Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. 62.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrick Gold Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.32, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $16.99 and its 200-day moving average is $16.47. The stock has a market cap of $32.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.51.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The gold and copper producer reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. Barrick Gold had a return on equity of 4.88% and a net margin of 12.58%. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Barrick Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This is an increase from Barrick Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Barrick Gold’s payout ratio is 48.78%.

About Barrick Gold

Barrick Gold Corporation is a sector-leading gold and copper producer.  Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GOLD and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ABX.
 
In January 2019 Barrick merged with Randgold Resources and in July that year it combined its gold mines in Nevada, USA, with those of Newmont Corporation in a joint venture, Nevada Gold Mines, which is majority-owned and operated by Barrick.