Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) Trading Up 0.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) shot up 0.4% during trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $21.00 to $22.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Barrick Gold traded as high as $19.42 and last traded at $19.35. 3,260,189 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 21,387,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.28.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GOLD. Scotiabank raised their price target on Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Argus raised shares of Barrick Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on shares of Barrick Gold from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrick Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOLD. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in Barrick Gold during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Barrick Gold in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its position in Barrick Gold by 628.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Barrick Gold by 175.6% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the gold and copper producer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Barrick Gold in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 62.85% of the company’s stock.

Barrick Gold Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.49, a current ratio of 3.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $34.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.91, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $18.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.35.

Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) (TSE:ABX) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The gold and copper producer reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Barrick Gold had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 5.55%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Barrick Gold Corp will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrick Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. 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.